Music and Rites

I hadn’t really experienced much rites of passage in my life. First of all we don’t celebrate birthdays. Second, I haven’t even been baptized yet. Third, I boycotted my elementary graduation because of some reason that I already forgot. Fourth, in my high school, we didn’t have a prom. Fifth, I am not yet 18 and I won’t go back to the Philippines when I turn 18 so I won’t have a debutante ball,...I think.

I take that back. I did experience quite a handful of rites.

I remember, I have been to a wedding before. I’ve also been to a few funeral services including one of my grandfather’s. I was actually able to attend my kindergarten graduation and my high school graduation. I had my fair share of academic rites too. But it’s nothing like that of hazing – just some school tradition that we do at certain year levels. Come to think of it, we actually did some cool and unique stuff. And, I was able to witness some rites of worship like attending town fiestas (which wasn’t permitted in the religion I practiced at that time by the way), watching processions during holy week, and I actually did some paper before about how people in our town recite Pasyon during holy week. (Yes, it’s Spanish. We have a lot of Spanish influence in our culture. They colonized us for more than 300 years!)

At the wedding I attended, the music was live. I was one of the performers. I accompanied some of the soloists and I also sang as a member of the choir. There was a processional wherein the bride walked along the isle. Guess what we played for the processional – Cannon in D by Pachelbel! I remember that one of the violinists got lost. The other violinist somehow managed to be back on track… or he might have improvised that time. And, I didn’t know where they jumped so I basically played I V vi iii IV I IV V all throughout until I found the measure they were in, or… I guessed they were in? Anyway, we survived and I don’t think the bride or the groom noticed. Later at the reception, we also played while they were eating. It took longer than we anticipated and we ran out of practiced music. Our music educator insisted that I play my recital pieces. Most of them weren’t for such an event and the other one was even a contemporary piece. I hope I didn’t give them indigestion.

At my grandfather’s funeral, the sound that was basically heard was the crying of the family members, relatives, friends and members of the community. Filipinos have strong family and community ties. So whenever someone dies, almost the whole town attends to the funeral service and laments with the family. We kept him in a casket for 9 days. We call that “Pasiyam” translated as “9 days of mass”. Neighbors and friends visited as they bade their last goodbyes to my grandfather. Everyone was up all night and all day. Well, not really everyone-we had shifts on when to sleep and when to stay awake. The main point is someone had to be awake to attend to the guests who might pay a visit at any hour. On the last night, we had a band playing some popular Filipino songs like, “Hindi Kita Malilimutan”- which translates “I Won’t Forget You”, “Paalam na Aking Mahal”-which translates “Goodbye My Love”. Listening to the music added more to the grief and I cried harder that night because of the lyrics and the music itself. Up to now, after 5 years, I would still cry whenever I hear the songs. Or whenever I sing those songs in my head. Like now for example. By the way that grandfather was the one who introduced me to the songs of Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Kenny Rogers. On the day of his burial, I played my recording of his favorite piece that I usually played on the piano for him. (I actually made that tape for him to hear me play before he dies but it didn’t reach him on time.) Upon hearing the music, everyone was emotional. Finally it was time to lead him to his grave. There was a huge procession from the house to the cementery. A marching band lead the group playing the songs they did the night before. The car with the casket followed while a crowd formed at the car's tail. Everyone was crying, intensified by the music being played,... I believe. We reached the cementery after the long slow walk. There he was burried peacefully beside his parents. A small gathering at the house followed.

The graduation ceremonies I attended all played "Pomp and Circumstance". I believe its purpose was to keep everyone in beat while walking so as to avoid tripping on each other's togas/gowns. My High School Graduation was unique though. We marched to a piece composed by our National Artsist, Francisco Buencamino.

In my high school, we had a lot of traditions that we followed per year level. During my freshman year, we had an "Alpha and Omega Ceremony". Basically, the previous batch that recently graduated would be seated on stage. Then a small program would be held to welcome the freshmen. A march would be played and the omegas (the graduates) would walk down the stage, each person ringing the gong. The Freshmen (Alphas) in turn would march up the stage and ring the gong as each and everyone pass by it. This tradition has something to do with tranferring the rights/slots from the omega to the alpha. Next is the Freshmen Night wherein each artfield has to present/execute the talents of the new students. The result is a night full of music, dance and art. Music here is used in all artfields including creative writing and visual arts. Next is the "Mutya't Lakan". It's a freshmen beauty pageant wherein all the costumes should be made from recycled and student-made materials. It encourages everyone to be creative and resourceful. Ofcourse, the pageant wouldn't be alive without music. Our school is located on top of the mountain and Maria Makiling is a spirit that protects the mountain, the people and the animals from bad spirits. New students have to intoduce themselves and gain Maria's favor by giving an offering to her. No music accompanies this event though. I never knew why. This is just my first year. I might fill up the whole page if I continue until my fourth year.

Now let's move to town fiestas. During this time of the year, the town celebrates its patron saint's feast day. Our patron saint is San Isidro de Labrador. We celebrate it every May 15. Our community honors it with a parade wherein marching bands from every group participate. Then there is a program afterwards with dances, games and other social activites. The music of the bands lift everyones spirit and promotes a celebrating aura.

The last rite that I would discuss is the Holy Week. During this time, women would group and go to designated houses. There they would chant "Pasyon". It tells of the story of the hardships of Jesus Christ as he suffered in the hands of the Roman soldiers on his way to the Calvary where He will be nailed on the cross to die a slow death. The music serves as a way to grieve Jesus' death and urges the people to repent of their sins and have a clean life.

You can read this site to learn more about pasyon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasyon

Hope you enjoyed reading some stuff about my country. I'm sorry that it's too long.