School Opening 2009

She was still in grade 2 then, school was about to close; she had an allowance of twenty pesos a day. One year has gone as she went to grade 3 St. Withburga and got an allowance of thirty pesos. Today, school opens and her daily has gone up to forty a day, just to keep with inflation. A new set of uniforms and a much heavier bag as she has more books to bring. Ah, the travails of growing up.

Mardi Gras

First published at SCENE CITY on 5 February 2008

This young lady’s dad was bringing her to the school’s centennial year celebration when this photo was taken. The costume reminds us of Ati-Atihan festivities which has been described as the Philippine version of Mardi Gras.

While the Ati-Atihan honors the Santo Niño whose feast is held on January, Mardi Gras is celebrated during the last day of that ordinary-time interlude known in many Catholic cultures as Carnival (from the Latin words carne vale, meaning farewell to the flesh.)If Lent is a time of self-deprivation, Carnival is self-indulgence and “Mardi Gras" which means "Fat Tuesday" is misread as the last day for Catholics to indulge or worse, overindulge before Ash Wednesday starts the sober weeks of fasting and abstinence that comes with Lent. Mardi Gras is also called “Shrove Tuesday” or “Pancake Day”