Consider this as a short cultural note about a barely documented habit among the Filipino workers, peasants, and other poor people who seasonally travel on shoestring budgets from city to hometown, or from provincial town centers back to their barrios. Typically, this habit is most expressed in the mass exodus that happens during Holy Week, All Saints-Souls Days, and Christmas-yearend holidays. Continue reading “Working-class delicacies on the bus”
A jellyfish kind of story
For nearly a decade from the mid-1970s onwards, I turned Cavite province into a big backyard, having been able to visit all its municipalities and gradually familiarize myself with its main routes, poblacions, churches and convents, even a number of beach resorts. Don’t ask me the whys and wherefores, because that’s another story.
A Lenten tale of two cities
Have you ever wondered about many Filipinos plan to spend their Holy Week, and how they actually spend it? This story is one I’ve been meaning to write in essay form, or maybe as a full-blown cartoon strip, for maybe a year now. But with the limited time I can spare today, and not wanting to let the week pass without saying something about the Lenten customs of most of Metro Manila’s middle class, I ended up with this. Part 1 today, Part 2 on Sunday. Enjoy. Continue reading “A Lenten tale of two cities”