Childhood Memories
Hello dear readers, here I am again trying to write something that might catch your attention(hoping *wink) and I do hope that this platform will still be available for decades lol so our next generation would have time or will be able to read some of our articles especially about our childhood memories.
To start with, as mentioned in my article,..actually my first article, I am an Islander and Pandan is my hometown, the home of the Dinahit Festival, a 4th class municipality as per google and with 26 Barangays and four of which forms the town proper which are Libod, Napo, Del Norte, and Del Sur and my beloved Barangay is Libod of course lol.
Pandananons are God-fearing and loving people, neighbors are like brothers and sisters, Aunts and Uncles same with Grandmas and Grandpas, whenever there are celebrations, almost all the members of the family are invited. Just as of this writing, my family members are there in the neighbor's house with a birthday celebration lol they are having a karaoke time. Well, the good thing in the province is that if you go and celebrate with them you will still have take-home food lol.
Experiences
I still do remember during my elementary days, I and my friends would go to the river which just nearby to wash clothes on Saturdays or Sundays, on weekdays we have to go there as early as 5:30 or 6:00 am to take a bath because the water pump is the only source of water that time, you have to carry or gather 2-3 pails of water if you want to take a bath, well that's quite tiring, that's why we opt to take a bath at the river because of our house is 6th house from the dike. The school where we spend our elementary days is just walking distance from our house, and in secondary tricycle is the means of transportation for around 5 or 10 minutes with the fair of worth 5 pesos each trip, but in the afternoon we usually go home walking the extra mile with friends and classmates and yes we do enjoy doing this every afternoon and we will buy junk foods to eat while walking from our suppose to be fair. Sometimes on weekend, we would go fishing at the river until we reached one of our friend's house, (the friend I'm talking about is living at grandma's house in the town proper) there we would cook sweet potato for merienda or snack and have some buko, of course, buko juice.
During our time, we have no gadgets but yes we enjoyed our childhood, no network available or data connection, some use a radio set for entertainment those days like "Matudnila", " Gabi ng Lagim" to name a few, there were only a few homes or houses who have a television where neighbors do flock together just to watch teleserye at night. After the teleserye we will not yet go home, we would play "tagu-taguan", or sometimes tell tales lol, you'll just hear your mother or father shouting and calling your name when its time for bed lol...just imagine how happy and how noisy our street that time lol.
In the afternoon we are on the street playing "siato", "tumba-lata" "Chinese garter" and other games...we used to collect root crops or saba and cook at our house, of course, that's for snacks after the snack it's playtime again lol, not to forget also that sometimes the grandma of our friend we fondly call her "Lola Ale" when she knows and see us playing she will invite us for free snacks, can you imagine the happiness we experienced during those time? When fullmoon we used to be in the dike sometimes to cook saba, corn or peanut while having some "kuwentuhan".
We do experience also doing the "bahay-bahayan" it is a role play like game where one would act as a father, a mother, and children,..we use to "cook" leaves in a coconut shell...we use to play buy and sell using candy wrappers as our money and many other games,... imagine how priceless those memories were lol.
I do remember too that one time I happened to go with friends to gather some firewood without the knowledge of my parents just to experience and to visit the place, not knowing that they are not the owner of the place and to our surprise there are cows in the area and run after us lol.......and oh don't think that the running and hiding is over, because after that the owner of the place chased us too because of getting firewood in the area, imagine how terrible that experience was but also memorable lol....and to my relief the owner of the area who ran after us is my father's friend and uncle of our friend but not with us that time.
Today
Today, you can barely see children playing those kinds of games...you will see them in the street but with their gadgets or mobile phones playing Ml which I barely know how to play lol, sometimes watching videos on youtube, but the good thing today is almost all the houses in this town or in the neighborhood have their own television set and we now have network or data connection though sometimes poor lol...maybe some of you can relate to this.
Now some of our friends are already in the city, for jobs and has their own family, sometimes would go home during vacation or summer and we would spend times to reminisce the past, those memories and we use to tell that stories to the children in our area, sometimes, would go to the beach, going to the farm for buko and other fruits.
Ok, guys, that's enough for now...until next time, comments and suggestions are welcome for this article to get better if not lol.
By the way, I have to say thanks to those who supported my first article, I'm sorry I'm still in the process of getting to know this platform and I do appreciate and thankful for having such a wonderful platform.
Happy Island and Me
Ever wonder where the happy Island is? Well, maybe you heard about the place called the Land of the Howling winds? Yes, that is our beloved province of Catanduanes dubbed as the Happy Island, one of the provinces in Bicol Region. Our province offers a lot of places you can enjoy from islets, beaches, hills, historical churches, waterfalls, man-made/natural pools, and many more.
The home of the Finest Abaca. A haven of cheerful hospitable and God-Loving people.
The Islanders
Just like the strong fiber from the leafstalk of abaca, we have one thing in common, despite the super typhoons, natural disasters, the pandemic hitting us, we always rise, stronger than before. We are resilient withstanding earthquakes, pandemic, typhoons and just like our famous abaca we are strong and we will continue living. Our kababayans, our parahag-ots remained strong-willed and industrious enough making our province the center of abaca in the Bicol Region despite the pandemic.
As Islanders, we always look on the brighter side of life, we will always find fire to lit our ways until the sun rises and sets at the end of the day. We center ourselves on God and we live with it. Starting our days with thanksgiving for God's blessings. Maybe some of you know that we are blessed with oceans/beaches, beautiful mountain landscapes, and more.
The Abaca
Abaca is the strongest of natural fibers and is used as tea bags, banknotes, and decorative paper. Can be weave and be the primary source of cloth. Bags, slippers, ropes, flowers are some of the products which can be derived or make out of abaca fiber.
The Abaca Festival
During the month of May, our province celebrates our own festival and that is the Abaca Festival, which started last May 2016...featuring Abaca Fiber as the major product of our beloved province. This year, we are celebrating the 5th Abaca Festival and the COVID-19 pandemic won't stop us to celebrate this kind of Festival.
Because of this pandemic, just like last year, our province embraces innovation, the innovation to celebrate this festival virtually,... wherein we can celebrate digitally.
'New Normal' Celebration
In times like this so-called 'new normal', 11 towns of our province compete and showcase their creations, craftsmanship, and talents.
One of the activities of this festival is the eBarakalan Trade and Tourism fair it is a blended fair wherein you can purchase local products online to support local entrepreneurs showcasing various abaca products.
Another part of the Abaca Festival Queen Competition is the festival costume, that was exhibited at the Capitol lobby (as a dressmaker I dream someday my creation will be one of them too haha), and those glamorous creations were judged based on craftsmanship and originality, cultural value and relevance, quality, and wearability and of course overall impact.
AbacAmazing Spoken poetry is also a part of this year's celebration all about abaca and to show our support we can cast votes for the People's Choice Award by hitting the love reaction. There is also this so-called TikTok, Abakantahan, Virtual Dance Showdown are also in this year's celebration featuring abaca too.
Every year as our province celebrates Abaca Festival, national agencies and establishments displays statement of support for the celebration and let me share with you guys our town's display at our LGU entrance wherein you can pose and take pictures but sad to say, I was so busy with my small business that's why I can take mine haha...an arch as the representation of our municipality touched with collective efforts, history and culture. St Ignatius of Loyola our Patron Saint is also in this display, and I am glad to share my skills by sewing our patron's cloak for the display.
Colors are also well presented in the display, wherein yellow for the hope of a better and brighter tomorrow, blue for an ocean of endless possibilities, white as pure intentions to end this pandemic, green for the call of the protection and conservation of our resources.
Finally Home
Welcome to the municipality that smiles to you and soon to the world! Yes, I am proud to be a Pandananon, it is said that your home is where the heart is, and am glad and proud to say that I am finally home now, because I stayed in Manila for sometime Wayback 2004, and living in the city is not quite easy, I know some or most of you guys can relate especially if and you are alone in that place a total stranger in that place but glad I survived for almost 10 years haha of course not to forget the help of some relatives though not in the same house but knowing you have relatives nearby it would be of great help,...but being home with your family is the greatest feeling after all the struggles of being alone in the city I decided to go home and decided to put up my Dress Shop where I spend most of all my time and as my source of income to help my family, when not that busy I love to bake a cake for the family and take care of my collections of plants as a Plantita.
Our town has a number of tourist spots that you can visit when this pandemic is over. These places are:
Carangyan Beach Resort if you are looking for a tropical beach experience in the northern part of our province.
Tuwad-tuwadan Blue Lagoon and Cagnipa Rolling hills it is said that if you love a dangerous kind of beauty, then this place is perfect for you to visit.
St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish, which was built in 1874, if you happen to be here don't miss the chance to visit our church.
We have also the Hiyop Highlands, Paraiso ni Honesto, and a new Hotel and Halfway Resort...some beaches like Mangbang beach, Muraw beach and not to forget our Seashore Park too name a few.
'Til Next Time
Thank you for spending time reading my article, hope you guys find this interesting, feel free to comment and maybe some suggestions for my next article.
@Kayen09
