2010 Fiesta Celebration for the Patron Saint Immaculate Conception

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I should have been deep asleep by now, considering its already 1 in the morning of the 9th of December, 2010. I went to bed at 10:30 PM, hoping to get a decent sleep despite the noise outside, in the plaza. at 12 midnight the noise escalated, and it is still blaring right now as i'm typing here. Yesterday (December 8), was the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the whole town celebrated.

This had been a week long celebrating culminating on the eve of the 8th of December, with a live band show sponsored by San Miguel Corporation, right at plaza area, fronting the town's gym. Owing to the good weather, (thankfully, it did not rain the whole day on the 8th), they were able to set up the band at the outdoor stage. The people are truly enjoying the show, much to my chagrin since i still have to work tomorrow and i can't sleep because of the blaring music. The walls of my room seems to shake due to the volume of their sounds. My house is a good 300 meters or more from the outdoor stage, yet i can still feel the vibration of the blaring music.

Right now, they're singing lively songs which i think really made those watching them out there, dance to the tunes. However, it does not alleviate my situation since i can't even sleep a wink! well, my only consolation is that it would end soon. They're not planning to last until the morning don't they?

It has truly been a one of a kind celebration and so unusual for me. I spend the whole day and night in my room, never even bothering to take a walk at the plaza to get a glimpse of the celebration. It's unusual for me since for the past several years, i always spent fiesta time in my friends' houses. Well, for a change, i stayed at home all day, just reading and writing.

The Essence of Fiesta Celebrations

In the Philippines, every town, city, barangay and the smallest sitios celebrates the feast of their Patron Saint. The Parish Church usually leads these annual celebrations which usually includes processions around towns, novenas, religious undertakings or shows which usually depicts the lives of these Patron Saints or Jesus Himself. However, as time goes by, Fiesta celebrations has gotten a new meaning in the lives of the residents of these places.

In our part of the country, fiestas are usually celebrated with different activities spearheaded by the church and with banquets to which all are invited to feast. Every family will usually prepare large banquets for their respective visitors and those whoever happens to visit your house during these days.

The atmosphere during fiestas are so festive that a visitor would not think that the town of the family he/she is visiting is dire financial difficulties. It has already been ingrained in the culture of most Filipino families to always prepare for the feast no matter what. Some families even prepares for it at the beginning of the year or right after the celebration of the current feast.

In this contemporary times, fiestas are often celebrated with several competitions participated in usually by the resident of the place and sometimes, from people of neighboring places. There are dancing, carousels, carnivals, small-time gamblings and lots of food during this celebration. It is so fun to watch and observed since every town or city has its own distinct way of celebrating fiestas.

It is sad to note however that due to the proliferation of drugs and the use of alcohol of young people, there are always rumbles and riots or some sort of trouble during these kind of celebrations. However, if the persons in authority are active enough to make some moves to prevent these kind of troubles amongst the participants and visitors to fiesta celebrations, these festivities would be truly festive and worth the effort to attend to.

The church for sometime had intensified their campaign for a simple yet meaningful celebration of these festivities. They happen to observed that many people had set aside the real meaning of the religious celebration and focused on the entertainment and festivity for material satisfaction aspect.

It would be nice to see people prioritize going to church on Fiesta Day to participate in the celebration than focusing all their energies on their banquet preparation for visitors who don't even really give a care about the celebration, but just being there for the banquet.

Risks: The Spices of Life

I believe in the saying that life without risks is not worth living for. I daresay, Risks are the spices of life.

In choosing our path to take, we are taking a risk for we don't really know what's that path has enstored for us. Nobody can know what tomorrow will bring and nobody could truthfully say that our decisions for tomorrow has no risks attached to it.

Just like choosing our careers, we could not really know what kind of future and opportunities it would afford us. Sure, lawyers have high pays, managers work in banks or companies, teachers in school and navy's in the ships. But we are not certain if we would be included in the list of the general, that we get to work in the place meant for our chosen careers. We are taking a risk everytime we make decisions and that what makes life exciting and worth living for. Investing our money in business is a risk and if we refrain ourselves from investing for fear of making a failure then we cannot know nor taste success. In the affairs of the heart, risk is also an imposing factor. If we learned to love somebody we are taking the risk that he/she may not love us in return. Or, if they return our feelings, the risk of losing them to somebody else is still there. Life is complex and so does the people..so does their heart.

Sharing ourselves with others in the spirit of friendship is also a risks. We could be hurt in the process for we would open ourselves to the vulnerability of rejection and betrayal.

But as we always say, life is taking risks. Its the spices that makes life worth truly living.