WEDDING RECEPTION AT THE BEACH


It was not the only wedding reception to be held at that particular area of the beach; but at the time the first was held a year ago, the lion was at the metropolis hence could not chronicle the said event.

What made the two weddings unique was that the brides involved sisters and the grooms were migrants to the place. The eldest, Dinah, was married to Randy Enojas, while the younger, Maria Elizabeth, a pretty eighteen year old whom the lion tamer mulled to take along to the big city as a household help, married Arnulfo Godinez, aged 38, and which, if defined in poetic language, the wedding may well be considered an April versus September affair.

Save for the fact that the reception was within bird’s eye view of the aging lion since it was held at the other end of the beach where the lion often while his time away, the festivity would not have merited a page in the Internet, only, both grooms are neighbors of a barangay called Cabil’an, an islet beside Dinagat Island in Surigao del Norte that looks no bigger than a dot on the map of the Philippine Archipelago.

The place where the groom came from is the domain of the famed Ruben Ecleo and his Philippine Benevolent Association Inc. (or PBMI), where this semi-religious cult conducts its base of operations. Most of the inhabitants were themselves migrants that came from other places of the archipelago, mostly fishermen who felt the crunch of living while in their respective places of abode unbearable and decided Dinagat Island and its environs are suited to their needs. The group of islands, being mostly craggy and being the frontline of the rampaging waves brought about by typhoons that regularly batter the archipelago, would be bane to framers but is suitable to fishermen whose beachheads are their natural habitats. Cardo, the migrant whom the lion interviewed, himself came from Masbate who transferred to Dinagat Island some thirty years ago. Life to his family, he said, was becoming difficult in his place of birth. Out there in their new home, he said that religion is not a monopoly of Catholics, Protestants nor of the Adventists, but that certain tenets of Ruben Ecleo like “ganti” which the latter defined as reward, a tagalog word that means “response” are assured to those who follow his word. From what Cardo explained however, it appeared Ecleo is a good administrator who ran his flock like a cooperative, helping them in their financial needs whenever necessary.

The solemnization of the actual wedding is nothing unusual as it was held at the town’s church. But the reception was because it was conducted at the beach, the type usually held by celebrities, like Nora Aunor when she married the young Christopher de Leon sometime in the seventies. And while the food that was actually served may not fare well with gourmets and connoisseurs, the other events that transpired are worth this story to tell.

Two days before the wedding, three PAMO boats (actually a large fishing vessel with a crew of about seven seafarers that generally stays afloat for about 18 days at sea catching fish) , docked at the beachside carrying a hundred or so people. They include not only relatives of the groom but also next door neighbors who came all the way from their islet to celebrate with the wedded couple the affair, taking along with them, the pots and pans, the rice, the plates, the fork and spoons and the seven large pigs that they will butcher for food. The lion was told that out there in that small island, weddings and similar occurrences (even deaths) are unlike those that happen in other places which are mostly clan affairs, but are community undertakings. Neighbors contribute in the financial burden, the worry of the parents of the groom are thus considerably lessened. Nothing unusual here, Cardo said, since most are migrants whose clans are generally limited to second or third generation offsprings.

The night before the wedding is already the start of the celebration. The entrails of the pig is cooked into what an American friend calls “bloody Mary” (called dinuguan in the local dialect) and drinking Tanduay Rhum, talking about the characteristics of both the would-be bride and groom, told by parents of either side under the cool shade of the tent that was pitched at the middle of pumpboats at the beach. Parents, of course, see to it that none drinks more than what the occasion demands, the marriage will be solemnized the next day yet.

Since dowries form part of the wedding celebration, a wedding dance by the groom and bride is held, with relatives pinning paper bills on their clothes as they dance to the music. The amount received usually approximates the cost of a pumpboat thus assuring the newly-wedded couple of a livelihood to start on once they start on their own. This rite, the lion assumes, is not limited to the Dinagats but all over the entire archipelago.

Another curious event after the solemnization of the wedding is the actual act of taking home the bride. Sometime after the dance by the couple ended, the groom’s party boarded the three pumpboats taking along with them all the cooking utensils and the uncooked food provisions they brought along with them, but only after leaving some remaining cooked food to the girls’ parents and taking along the precious bride with them. Much like the buccaneers who took along the spoils after the raid is over.

Which makes the lion ponder: Could it be that they will allow the bride and the groom on the third pumpboat to themselves pumping rhythmically what has to be pumped before they reach their homing destination??

Ay, bastos!!