FRANCISCO'S PLEASURES
You must not think that Filipinos spend all their time in planting
rice, harvesting abaca, or climbing coconut trees. On the contrary,
they are fond of amusements, and they find many ways of gratifying
this very natural desire. There were several boys of about the same
age as Francisco, who lived close by, and they played together most
of their spare time. The American soldiers and teachers had shown
the older boys how to play baseball, and the game had become very
popular. Pablo and José both played well, the older boy having
developed into an excellent pitcher before he went to Manila to
enter college. Francisco and his companions were not large enough
to play a real game of baseball, but they found much fun in their
efforts to imitate the older boys. Of course their native tongue,
which in southern Luzon is called "Bicol" (Bee'-col), had no words
for this foreign game, and so the English terms had to be taken bodily
into their own language and used as native words. If you had watched
these small boys playing, you would have heard Francisco shout as he
struck at the ball and missed it,--"Sarong (sä'-rong) strike!"--"Duang
(du'-äng) strike!--Foul!!" "Tolong (to'-long) strike!" "Aco (ä'-co)
out!" sarong meaning one, duang, two, tolong, three, and aco, I.
Filipinos have a game of ball, quite different from baseball,
that is much enjoyed by young and old. The ball is of woven rattan,
about four inches in diameter and very light. As many as wish to play
form a ring, the ball is thrown into the air, and as it comes down,
some one sends it flying upward again. The game is to keep it from
touching the ground, and the players show much skill in striking it
with hands, arms, or feet, from various positions and without getting
very far away from their places in the ring. Old men often watch the
boys awhile and then get into the game themselves, showing surprising
agility and seeming to enjoy fully the brief return to boyhood.
There is a game rather similar to marbles that the younger boys play
a great deal. A ring is drawn on the ground and within this are placed
small stones or centavos (cen-tä'-vos), Philippine copper coins worth
half a cent; the players stand back a certain distance and toss other
stones or coins, trying to knock out the ones inside the ring.
The most harmful amusement in the Philippines is cockfighting. The
present government has limited the enjoyment of this sport to Sunday
afternoons and public holidays, but even so it is a great source
of evil in every community. The cockpit is generally a large roofed
enclosure with rude bamboo seats rising in tiers like circus benches,
and with a fenced arena in the center in which the chickens fight.
A small knife blade, keen and sharp pointed, is fastened to a leg of
each of the birds, and when all is ready they are put into the arena
to fight. The owner of a gamecock trains him carefully, making him
scratch to develop the muscles of his back and legs, and in other
ways preparing him for the ring. The fights are often drawn out until
one of the chickens, weak from loss of blood and from the exertion,
falls over dead. Then the winner crows, if he has any breath left,
the crowds watching the fight cheer loudly, bets are paid, new ones
are made on the next pair of birds, and the excitement continues. At
sunset the people reluctantly leave the ring and return to their homes,
the winners jingling their gains, the losers hoping for better luck
next time, and the owners of birds either proudly showing off their
conquering heroes or tenderly carrying home the limp bodies of their
pets to be boiled for hours in the vain hope of making their hard
muscles tender for the table. Much time and money are wasted on this
cruel and rather disgusting sport, and it is to be hoped that it may
decrease from year to year and finally die out entirely.
Each community in the Philippines has its patron saint, and once a
year, usually on the day celebrated by the church in honor of that
saint, occurs the fiesta (fi-es'-tä), or feast day, of the town. These
holidays are looked forward to with joyful anticipation, and most
elaborate preparations are made for the entertainment of guests. A
great tower or arch, sometimes seventy-five or a hundred feet high,
is built of coconut logs, bamboo, and rattan. Lanterns of gayly colored
paper are hung over this, and at night men climb laboriously over it,
lighting candles in each lantern; the effect is exceedingly pretty
and the lights burn for several hours.
The fiesta usually begins with a solemn celebration of the Mass at
the church, with special music by the band or orchestra in addition to
the choir and organ. When the service is over, the people move about
over the plaza (plä'-zä), or public square, greeting their friends and
enjoying conversation. At noon, the priest serves an elaborate dinner
to the important men of the town and to the distinguished visitors,
while in the various homes, people are entertaining their friends
with the best their tables afford. After dinner is over and all have
rested awhile, games and sports of various kinds are witnessed,--races
around the plaza, jumping, wrestling, ball games, and other feats of
skill or strength, while those who are so disposed go to the cockpit
for the afternoon.
At night it is customary for the presidente (pres-i-den'-te), or
mayor, of the town to give a grand baile (bäi'-le), or dance, to
which nearly every one is invited. The largest hall in the town is
secured and lavishly decorated with flags, palm leaves, bamboo stems,
and bright flowers. The floor is polished until it fairly shines,
a long table groans under the weight of rice, chicken, ham, roast
goat, bananas, and sweets of various sorts, an orchestra or band is
hired, and all is ready for the event. About eight-thirty or nine
o'clock a throng of señores (sen-yo'-res), señoras (sen-yo'-räs), and
señoritas (sen-yo-ree'-täs) (which means gentlemen, married ladies,
and young ladies) arrive, dressed in their finest clothes and ready
to enjoy the music, the dancing, and the refreshments until a late
hour. The waltz, two-step, and Virginia reel are very much in favor,
and a dignified Spanish dance called the rigodon (ri'-go-don), with
complicated figures and graceful steps, is also popular.
Every town has its musicians, and often excellent music is made by a
group of bare-footed players whom you would hardly suspect of being
skilled in anything. Sometimes when better instruments cannot be
secured, the boys organize a bamboo band; generally, however, the
instruments are those which are commonly used the world over. The
great Constabulary Band of Manila, conducted by an American negro,
Captain W. H. Loving, ranks among the first musical organizations of
the world and has several times made tours in the United States.
Filipinos are very fond of plays. In Manila there is a large Grand
Opera House, and many outlying towns have their teatros (te-ä'-tros),
or theaters; but in the smaller places where this is not possible,
plays are given at night in some public square, without stage, scenery,
or costumes. The characters include kings, queens, knights, servants,
and even bears or other animals, all of whom recite their lines to
the great delight of a circle of onlookers who squat upon the ground
holding candles or lamps in order to see the play. At Christmas time,
bands of singers and dancers go from house to house, entertaining
the public and passing the hat for gifts when the program is finished.
These are a few of the pleasures which Francisco and his friends
enjoyed. It is true that some of their work was very hard and
disagreeable while it lasted, but the climate and soil of the
Philippines are so favorable that even the most industrious people
have a great deal of leisure time in which to enjoy life. Francisco's
grandfather had a great fund of stories, and he loved to collect a
crowd of children about him and entertain them with one tale after
another. The following story of "The Three Sisters" was a general
favorite:
"Once there were three sisters who were very beautiful, and they all
lived in the same house. A beggar came one day asking for rice, and
one of the sisters went down the stairs with a plateful for him. As
soon as he received it, he seized the girl, and putting her into a
sack, he carried her off to his home. The next day he said to her,
'I must go away for several days and will leave you all my keys. But
you must not unlock room thirteen; all the others you may go in,
but not thirteen.'
"So she took the keys and an egg which he gave her to keep, and
prepared to wait for his return. By and by she became curious, however,
and decided to open the forbidden room. As soon as she pushed back
the door, she saw scattered about the floor portions of the body of
a dead man. She was so frightened that she dropped the egg and the
keys, and when she picked them up again the egg of course was broken
and the keys were bloody.
"When the old man returned, he saw the broken egg and the keys with
blood on them. So he locked the girl in the room with the dead man,
and went again to the home of the sisters, begging for bananas. Just
as before, one of the sisters came to grant his request for food, and
he put her into his bag and took her home with him. As with the first
sister, he gave her an egg and the keys, with the same instructions
not to enter room thirteen. Of course, the second sister did as the
first had done and also dropped the egg and the keys.
"She was put into the room as a prisoner, and for the third time the
false beggar went to the house, asking this time for camotes. The third
sister passed through the same experiences as the others, but she was
less easily frightened and did not drop the egg and keys when she saw
the dead man. Instead, she went into the room and saw her sisters
prisoners there. She released them, put them into a large basket,
and taking some gold which she found in the room, completely covered
them. She collected the pieces of the dead body, put them together,
and a handsome man awoke from death. She allowed him to escape from the
room, put the basket containing the gold and her sisters into another
room, closed room thirteen, and awaited the return of the false beggar.
"When he came and saw that the egg was not broken and the keys were not
bloody, he said, 'You have obeyed me, and we will be married.' 'Very
well,' she answered, 'but first you must carry home for me a basket
of gold for my parents. You must not sit down nor stop to rest till
you have taken this basket to my home. I shall be watching you from
my little window, and if you disobey me, I shall never marry you.'
"So he started out. He found the basket very heavy, and three times he
wished to put it down and rest, but each time he heard a voice which
seemed to come from the basket, saying, 'Go on, for I am watching
you from my little window; and if you disobey me, I shall never marry
you.' Therefore he went toiling on to the home of the three sisters,
and delivered the basket of gold (and the two girls) to the parents.
"When he returned, the man who had been dead but had come back to
life killed the false beggar, married the third sister, and they
lived happily forever afterward."