Summer Rituals

Summer is for kids. I can't help but flash a genuine smile on my face as I relive my summer.

It’s summer in the Philippines once again. Temperatures soar past 33 degrees Celsius and with it, summer rituals come to life. People, from pedestrians to pedestals, are abuzz with rituals unique to the season. The indelible mark of summer starts when temperature changes, literally, from cold to hot. Humidity is at its highest during the months of March, April and May. Sweltering heat is felt at this time and the menacing El Nino wreak havoc to the countryside destroying crops, drying up river beds and dams. Depending on how one looks at summer, it can be both boon and bane.

Summer marks the passage to manhood for most pre-teen boys in the country. With his father (or mother) in tow, these scared looking boys troop to the clinics for circumcision. They take advantage of the long school break to undergo this de rigueur as dictated by their custom and belief. Just like the rest of these lads, I was also circumcised at this time many summers ago. After summer, I was no longer a kid according to popular definition and belief. With mischievous grin on my face, I was now a young man I said to myself.

Most people head to the beach to have their tan (at least for the rich and vain) during Holy Week, which generally falls during summer. Popular beaches are teeming with people making beach combing next to impossible. It’s more like a fiesta with fluvial parade in honor of the patron saint. Ancillary to this “beaching” activity, gyms are teeming with gym rats trying to shed some unwanted pounds before displaying their curves and muscles in their swimsuits and board shorts. Constant pounding is heard in various cardio machines and weights until closing time.

Kids and teens have their grand time enjoying the long school break. Parents enroll them to different sports clinics/workshops hoping to acquire additional skills outside school. Some parents, on the other hand, take this opportunity in order to compensate or augment (depending on the case) academic deficiencies/skills which their kids are wanting/lacking. Summer classes are offered, squeezing one semester of classroom hours into two months. College students take advantage of this summer class in order to earn advance credits prior to school opening in June.

As for me, summer reminds me of my childhood experience in Iloilo. Back then, my mother or aunt would tag me along to the province.  They would introduce or re-acquaint me with my folks and cousins. I immensely enjoyed the “Maytime” flower offering that we did in  honor of the Virgin Mary. Songs and prayers were offered to Her in simple ceremony attended by old people, the “manangs”  as we call them. Fiestas abound during summer. I remember we would go to different barangays because we were invited by a ‘relative of a relative’ to share and partake the local food they prepared just for the fiesta. It’s a grueling process for me because I never enjoyed it.

Summer is for kids. I always have fond memories of summer, never a dull moment. As I relive my summer, this time as an adult, I can’t help but flash a genuine sweet smile on my face.