SIMULA Ng WALANG HANGGAN
( Forevermore)
By: BennyChan Jr.
BOOK I
Prologue:
My story started long before I was born; long before my mother was born. It started with grandma-Lola Martina, on a rainy July evening when she was born, under the protective foot of the mighty Mount Kanlaon.
The highest point in Negros, as well as the whole Visayas, with an elevation of 2,465 m (8,087 ft) above sea level, Kanlaon volcano straddles the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, approximately 30 km (19 mi) southeast of Bacolod city, the capital and most populous city of Negros Occidental and of the whole island region.
This is where my story begins...
The Hilot, Aling Hupe knew this wasn't going to be an easy childbirth.
In the hierarchy of healers and specialists in Philippine folk medicine, the Hilot, ambiguously refers both to the techniques and treatments applicable to sprains, fractures and muskuloskeletal conditions, besides prenatal visits and delivering babies. Their healing practices are profusely infused with prayers and religious rituals, and traditions.
The rain was pounding outside, making the muddy road slippery and treacherous for the carabao and its cart more difficult to navigate.
Aling Hupe did not fancy this emergency call at all. She was promised by Nana Rosa a bag of rice, with a rooster thrown in as a bonus.
" Lintian! Hell! I got my work cut up for this childbirth. It's a breech birth too... This child is stubborn as a mule!"
And with a loud defiant cry, Maria Martina De Gracias was born;
the Matriach of the De Gracias Clan, my maternal grandmother.
Martina grew up to be a precocious young girl. Beautiful and witty, but her stubbornness has not left her, in fact, it grew with her.
"Tinang! Tinang! You better come down from that Sampalok, Tamarind tree right now!" Called Lola Rosa.
" or you will say hello to this bakawan stick, I tell you! " She warned, as she waved the solid Bakawan branch she has saved for disciplinary purposes.
Bakawan or Rhizophora apiculata, as well as Bakhaw Lalaki , is used to make charcoal and have an average diameter of 5.5 centimeters and height of 6 meters.
Martina knew her Lola, Grandma Rosa meant business in her tone of voice, and this made the 7 year old girl swiftly scrambled down the fruit- laden Tamarind Tree and made a dashed home.
" Yah yah lang si Lola Rosa! Kay sweet kaayo ang bunga ng Sampalok! Hi hi hi., Suya! Suya!" She managed to say behind her.
Lola Rosa couldn't help but smiled a bit at the funny antics of her favorite granddaughter. " Ah! She is a handful that one...so much like a Libay, a female wild deer. Oh I pity whoever get to marry her!" She mumbled as she gasped for breath. "Heaven forbids!"
A wild deer indeed was an appropriate description to Martina. She would ran to the river with the boys, played games with a competitive nature, always wanting to achieve victory.
On her 7th year birthday, a big party was planned by her parent headed by Lola Rosa.
There were sumptuous dishes that took three days of preparation and cooking. Large kawa of Kalderetas, Adodo and Kadyos. ( K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient,batwan, are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region), and of course, there were lechons and so many other sweet delicious desserts.
Aling Metring, the eldest head cook, oversaw all of the cookings with her discerning tastebud.
" Yaya Metring... Are we going to have Pastillas for my birthday?"' Martina asked excitedly. " and what about cake? What sort of cake is it going to be?" She added even before the loving elderly cook could answered.
"And Yaya...is it true that we are having special guests all the way from the city of Manila?" The young girl could not contained herself.
" Oh Yaya Metring, I couldnt sleep anymore! One more night to go. I can feel it already! Yeheyyyy!" As she jumped out of the kitchen with a mouthful of Halaya, Sweet Yam in her mouth.
Martina woke up early and dashed down the long spiral staircase of the De Gracias ancestral home in Bacolod, A city in the Visayan region of the Philippines.
" Today is the day. This is it! Yeheyyyyy!"
She called out loudly.
"Mama, Mama what am I going to wear?" She looked at her loving mother Fausta, who pulled her to an embrace and kissed her forehead.
" Hija, Happy Birthday! Your'e a young lady now, you should start acting like one Tinang!"
She said and gave her daughter another peck on the cheek
YOU ARE READING
FOREVERMORE ( Simula Ng Walang Hanggan)
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