| | Money
makes the world go round, it is said. Without money/currency, the world gets stalled.
Imagine a world or community without any currency.
Commerce
would get stalled; business transactions world be at a standstill. Or deals would
be transacted at a snail's pace.
Trading
in olden days was mostly done through bartering, which was a very tedious way
of conducting trade or commercial deals.
Imagine
parcels of rice lands to be exchanged for several cattle. What a "bulky"
transaction!
During
World War II, my father's youngest brother got married following the pre-marriage
tradition of the old folks, he had to give five hundred pesos "genuine"
money (not local or Japanese currency).
The
amount was apportioned as follows: P300 for masses for the dead relatives of both
sides and P200 for the pakumkom as baon for the couple's new "married"
life, and a house.
Luckily
for my uncle who was the youngest in he family, inherited his parents' house.
So this did not constitute a problem.
My
father and his siblings put up the bugay or dowry. It was a challenge on their
part. In our town then there were families that were known to have high-priced
"tags" for the female members.
The
pangayo was part of the pre-marital requirements. The wedding preparations were
to follow later in terms of pig/cow/carabao/chicken, rice in terms of ganta -
depending on the kind of kumbira (wedding feast) and the ganas (welcome party
prepared for the bride by the groom's relatives.)
The
higher the social standing and prestige the girl's family has in the community,
the bigger the preparation. (This reminds me of the TV show "The Price is
Right.")
The
wedding feast is a social activity that the members of the community look forward
to. There are no invitation cards given out; everybody is supposed to come.
Families
come and go - relatives or non-relatives. Visitors of visitors are welcome. It
is a community affair. It will be the talk of the place for days or even for months.
As
the newly weds prepare for the ganas, there are lots of advice given by well-meaning
relatives and friends. | | "Ondoy,
ayaw awaya
Si Inday, imong asawa
Imo ganing awayan
Si Inday among bawion
(Literal
translation)
Ondoy, don't pick up a quarrel
With Inday, your wife
If
you do so
Then we'll get Inday back. | |
(Ondoy
and Inday are terms of endearment given to a swain and a lass, respectively, in
Bisayan-Cebuano language.)
That's
the end of the love and courtship phase of a couple's life. Now follows the married
life - for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer. Till death do us part.
May they
live in peace! | | TEACHING
VALUES We
teach a child to be generous and give,
And tell him that is the only way to
live.
But for a child it's not his natural way,
Extending his arms to give
things away. Made
to feel guilty if he doesn't share,
A child may not understand or care.
Labeled
"greedily" if he doesn't give,
Resentment and anger builds as he
lives. It
doesn't take long the damage is done,
He quickly learns that giving is not
fun.
A conflict forms about this giving law,
When he's told not giving is
a character flaw. He
sees adults, who don't appreciate,
And use giving as a ploy to bait.
He
learns that giving is a way to manipulate,
Not as a quality one should emulate. Many
other values are taught to this youth,
But by now he is skeptical of its truth.
Because
those who taught him don't live life that way.
When asked, "why,"
they reply, "don't do as I do, do as I say." Just
one more reason why the world is in such a state,
Most loved ones only talk,
don't model or demonstrate.
A child learns best, when we live what we teach,
Not
even children like to hear hypocrites who preach. | |
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