Chained to Fiesta Tradition (Toronto experience)

By Rodel J. Ramos 

(File Photo)

For more than 550 years our conquered people were taught to celebrate fiestas by the Church and the Spanish Authorities until every town and barrios have their fiestas. It was a clever move. We became too busy celebrating we did not even have time to think whether the fiestas were good for our people or had time to rebel against their abuses. They took away our lands, raped our women, killed our men, made us work without compensation and taxed us to death and seldom did we revolt.

They taught us to prepare food and spend for our visitors who would come to our house during these festivities to make us poor that we would not have money to fund a revolution. It became our tradition and we felt “hiya” ashamed not to prepare food even if we have to borrow money and kill our only cow, pig or chicken for the occasion. We enjoyed these celebrations and perpetuated it up to this day. We even brought it overseas where we migrated.

In the late 1960’s my mentor, the late Senator Raul Manglapus saw the impact of these fiestas perpetuating poverty and enriching only business people and the elite. He wrote a book “Revolt against tradition” and suggested we break away from this tradition to minimize poverty and help the poor. But we refused.

Inspired by my Manglapus’ book I led a petition in the early 70’s with the help of some young people asking the parish Priest of Saint Joseph Church in Quezon City to keep the Fiesta celebration only in Church with a simple Mass and spare the people of the heavy burden of spending their hard earned money in food for their guests during that Fiesta. This angered our parish Priest and his blood pressure went up. I found out later that the Church made P50, 000.00 every year from donations and sponsors for the fiesta alone.

But the people told their friends and families that there was no Fiesta that year. The streets went empty compared to previous years when you can’t even walk in the street because of the crowd. It proves that leaders can stop traditions if they are determined to do something.

In Canada we carried on those fiesta traditions by the hundreds of celebrations every year. There are more than half a dozen Independence Day celebrations around Greater Toronto Area alone. It makes me wonder if we are truly celebrating the Philippine Independence or our independence from one another. It reminds me of the hundreds of different tribes competing with one another trying to prove who has the best fiesta and fighting each other with it.

We have less than a dozen major concerts, beauty contests, fashion shows, picnics and gala nights. The more than 500 organizations each have their parties at least once a year and picnics. They call them fund raising but I call them fund wasting.

Take for example, a gala night with 500 guests at $50.00 each. A husband and wife spend $100 excluding party dress, gasoline and parking. Five hundred guests earn them a gross profit of $25,000. But they spend around $20,000 in rent, food, entertainment, music, souvenir program and decorations. They net only $5,000, so it seems that $20,000 is thrown away. Multiply $25,000 times 500 organizations around Metro Toronto and that equals $17.5 million dollars a year. This is how much we throw away more or less each year. In ten years it is $175 million dollars. Do we wonder why many of us retire poor with not much savings specially our leaders who have to attend these parties almost every week? And then we accuse them off running away with the community funds. And this is only in the Greater Toronto Area. We are not talking here of the gala nights of major associations in hotels where they charge $100/per plate.

Then our leaders fight each other questioning where the small net profit goes which they suspect officers miss spend or use for personal gains. Why don’t we question where the $17.5 million dollars wasted money goes each year? Is it worth all the parties? Is it not high time we ask why we punish ourselves this way every year?

We are not talking here of the thousands of Church encouraged private weddings, debut, and anniversaries and birthdays for family and friends each year which also cost thousands and if put together is worth hundreds of millions.

Because we go to a lot of parties and eat a lot, we gain weight and have to spend lots of money to reduce and buy medicines to lower high blood pressure, cholesterol, arthritis, heart ailments, diabetes and other diseases. It is good OHIP pays for our doctors and hospital bills.

I am not suggesting we stop altogether these festivities. We can have joint parties to reduce cost, time, efforts and talents if we want too but the pride, egos and desire of our leaders to claim success in our small parties would not let us. We can never make PIDC, PCCF, FCT, and other big organizations work together because of personal animosities among its leaders. What happened to humility, love, understanding, cooperation, and unity? Did we throw them away?

And who will be the modern day hero to save us from our destructive tradition? When are we ever going to question this? The late Claro M. Recto said, “In the country of the blind, the one eyed man is the king.” But it seems in our community it will always be “The blind following the blind.”

We probably heard of the story about Nero partying while Rome was burning. I think that is what we have been doing all along, partying while the Philippines and our community is getting poorer while corruption and injustice gets worse. We don’t have time to fight them because we are busy partying, having fiesta and fighting each other to prove who has the best fiesta.

(rodjalram@gmail.com)