Pinoy Pagdiriwang
For 2 days every year, the Seattle Center House (and surrounding grounds) becomes a veritable fiesta. It is called the "Pagdiriwang Festival", held in June (scheduled as close to Philippine Independence Day as possible). My brother and I decided to go there for the sake of nostalgia.
It felt just like being at home. The sun was shining, and it was pretty warm and humid (for Seattle standards). Outside they were making ihaw the barbeque, frying the lumpia and mixing the pancit palabok in their stalls. There was also overpriced halo-halo. It felt just like being in a fair. We had lunch on the grass; for a moment, I felt like I was back at the Sunken Garden.
Inside the Center House, the program commenced. There were ethnic dances (whose authenticity one could question) as well as colonial dances. There were song performances, mainly standard ballads from the '80s and '90s (Gary V, anyone?), and sometimes, R&B from the more contemporary Fil-Am youth. There was a declamation contest, and the winner was this pre-teen girl who talked about her grandfather dying, and all her relatives did was fight over who would inherit what. It was very touching, and an astute observation; I'm almost sure she'd grow up a bitter, cynical English major. Of course, the master of ceremonies during the whole programme was a middle-aged "Tita" who had the most amusing accent.
Some things don't change, for better or worse.
It felt just like being at home. The sun was shining, and it was pretty warm and humid (for Seattle standards). Outside they were making ihaw the barbeque, frying the lumpia and mixing the pancit palabok in their stalls. There was also overpriced halo-halo. It felt just like being in a fair. We had lunch on the grass; for a moment, I felt like I was back at the Sunken Garden.
Inside the Center House, the program commenced. There were ethnic dances (whose authenticity one could question) as well as colonial dances. There were song performances, mainly standard ballads from the '80s and '90s (Gary V, anyone?), and sometimes, R&B from the more contemporary Fil-Am youth. There was a declamation contest, and the winner was this pre-teen girl who talked about her grandfather dying, and all her relatives did was fight over who would inherit what. It was very touching, and an astute observation; I'm almost sure she'd grow up a bitter, cynical English major. Of course, the master of ceremonies during the whole programme was a middle-aged "Tita" who had the most amusing accent.
Some things don't change, for better or worse.