Nostalgia for the St. Augustine fiesta

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

SINCE it is the feast of St. Augustine, patron saint of my beloved city of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, I have to take a break from those news stories that make a lot of people worried and upset. 

I am talking about the reports on the violence on the streets, corruption and the heavy drama on Sen. Leila De Lima and President Rodrigo Duterte which makes the Kardashian reality show pale in comparison.

But the president has a job to do at all costs so Filipinos should just let him do his job and we keep him in our prayers that he would do good in accordance with legal and divine law. 

There are occasions in my adoptive country that would make me wax nostalgic such as Christmas, All Souls Day and yes, the annual fiesta of Cagayan de Oro.

I miss it terribly and I recall with fondness the good times and the food, oh my heart would just melt away.  Even now and then across the ocean I can smell the lechon-humba (pinasiko) and adobo. Of course there is the torta and cakes. I miss going to church also. 

Throughout my adult life I attended Mass at St. Augustine Cathedral at 11 am where it would be concelebrated by all the priests at the archdiocese with the bishop as the main celebrant. 

The church would be a scene of candles, the smell of the incense and people all dressed in their Sunday’s best with priests in white vestment adding solemnity to the occasion.

Anyway I asked some Kagayanons who are now here in the US on what they missed about the fiesta in Cagayan de Oro. Trust me, they may be far away but their thoughts are filled with the celebration of the St. Augustine fiesta in Cagayan de Oro. 

One of them, Juralyn Jongco Gallardo Hall, used to live in barangay 17 but is now based in Charlotte. She wished there were many Kagay-anons in North Carolina. 

When I asked her what she felt about the St. Augustine fiesta she has this to say: “Tsada unta mag fiesta sad ta (It would be good if we have a fiesta).” 

Hall said she's game for a “potluck fiesta” just to have a semblance of a fiesta celebration so it can ease the pangs of homesickeness at this time of the year. 

Hall said she would never forget August 28 every year because it happens to be the birthday of her mother. She recalled the parade and going to houses of her friends then the karaoke at Barangay 17. “Those were the old old good days,” she said.

Another Kagay-anon is Rosie Hagan who lived in barangay Kauswagan, Cagayan de Oro and is now based in Kernersville, North Carolina.  Rosie  is an Olape before she got married.  She said she really missed the parade during fiestas. 

“I was a participant in the parade as a student of Bulua National High School. Mingaw noon ko dah (I really missed it),” she said. 

Fellow Kagay-anon Miraflor Fuentes-Taylor, who's also from barangay 17 and a friend of Hall that's now based in Zephyrhills, Florida likewise missed the parade.

As a graduate of Misamis Oriental General Comprehensive High School in 1994, she remembered the drum and bugle competition fondly. I am encourage to write about the St. Augustine fiesta not only to recall happy times but to re-establish in my own small way my ties with friends and family in the City of Golden Friendship who may now be celebrating the fiesta as this piece sees print.

From many of us here across the ocean, we greet everyone a Happy Fiesta Cagayan de Oro and Viva Señor San Agustin!

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who worked as a nanny and is now employed as a sub-teacher and a part-time teacher assistant in one of the school systems in the Carolinas.
Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com and at http://www.blogher.com/myprofile/spdennis54. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis.
You can also connect with her through her email susanap.dennis@yahoo.com as well as her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/) and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)