by Telly G. Ocampo

Where have all the young girls gone?

The month of May. This is the month when young
girls of my era always looked forward to.
When it was May, during our time, we were excited
thinking of the white dress we had to wear including
our veils, shoes and other trimmings. We always had
the repaso during our Catechism class in
preparation for the Flores de Mayo every afernoon
of May. What a sight to behold. We were awed at
the way we held our assigned symbols/letters to
complete the words AVE MARIA! Some of the
symbols included representation of important feasts
like Pentecost, Sundays, and the Estrellas De Las
Flores.
When I was little, my Manang Aurora and me
performed our role as angels in the Flores de Mayo.
It was my Lola Danday who prepared our angels’
wings including the crown of white flowers made of
crepe paper. Our pairs of shoes were bought nga
duna gyud paabong aron dili sakit among tiil
kung mogoot na ang sapatos. A new pair of shoes
was bought for us only when we outgrew the old
pair. Our shoes, then, were always colored black
and the white pair of shoes was for special
occasions. So, in the month of May, we were
excited to get our new white pair of shoes for the
Flores de Mayo.

It was also a fond dream, every month of May, that
we would get a new Spanish veil. But this dream
was not realized as the Spanish lace was rather an
expensive material. Even my mother never had that
kind of veil for it was very really expensive. Part of a
girl’s church accessory for Sundays and big feasts is
the white dress with the sash showing our devotion
to our Lady of Lourdes, with the missal, the fan and
a handkerchief. That was standard then. Going to
church in your Sunday’s best was the trend. No
matter how few our dresses were, yet, we had
dresses for daily wear, church wear and special
events.
Coming back here to my old home town in Baclayon,
in 1992, the afternoon celebration of Flores de
Mayo was beautiful and well attended. My two
daughters during their college years still participated
in the Flores de Mayo and I am sure that they
enjoyed the experience. Yes, we loved the way
Flores de Mayo was celebrated during my growing
up years until I got married. During our years, only
girls and ladies who participated in the daily
celebration. The boys were just spectators. They
would usually go up to the choir loft to have a
glimpse of the girls and ladies participating in the
Flores de Mayo. And that was, of course, if they
were allowed by Nong Tekyo and Ingko Lumin to go
to the loft. These two were the gurus of the different
activities for the Flores de Mayo.

We were true to our devotion of the Flores de
Mayo. We had to climb the kalachuchi trees to have
our bouquets. Amo pud gamiton ang kalachuchi nga
isuksok sa basket sa gamay na AVE MARIA. The
big basket of the Ave Maria was reserved for older
girls who marched in the Dios te Salve in their high
hills. It was part of a young girl’s dream to be an
adult and wear in our highheeled shoes to march
down with two angels beside her carrying the big
letters of the Ave Maria.
I was sad when I went to the Flores de Mayo
celebration one afternoon, during the feast of Sta.
Monica. Wala na gyud ang mga dalagas nga
nag edad ug 16 anyos pataas. Men and women in
the different ages were there. Septuagenarians were
there, too, and most of them were bringing their
grandchildren as “angels”. The young boys from the
Immaculata High School were the ones who brough
the letters AVE MARIA.
Will the Flores de Mayo be back to its former glory?
The flowers from my Kalachuchi tree are waiting for
any takers. Where have all the young girls gone?

The Kalachuchi tre