September follows the month of August that, by folk reckoning, is an anomalous month. Never get sick in the month of August or it will be a long way to recovery. Be careful that you do not wound yourself in August for they do not heal easily in that month. Even in the unpredictable weather brought about by climate change, the reputation of August precedes it. To Sylvia Plath, August is the “odd uneven time,” although her reason for that is in her world, where the month brings in “the August rain: the end of the best of summer gone…” It is to her own season that the month derives its dreariness.
Among this generation, August is the “Ghost Month,” the time not auspicious for planning. September thus becomes a relief, a shift marker for a region not known for well-delineated changes in season. The “Ber” months are here, with September the mascot for the procession of months leading to December, ultimately the most festive of all “Ber” months.
Where this notion of the “Ber Months” originates, no one has really a clear idea, except that it augurs the beginning of what many call the longest Christmas celebration in the world. That label is self-proclaimed as with all the many labels we attribute to our country. Like world-class. Who vets us for world-classness is one of the enduring mysteries of our identity.
The proclamation about the longest celebration of Christmas is suspect. Examine it and it doesn’t really have any solid proof to it. If sale and bargain offers are indicators, we always have them. If the symbols like lanterns and Christmas lights are to be considered, then remember how we never take down such decorations. The thing about blinking lights is that we seem to have made that part of our lifestyle, neurosis, and aesthetics. There is one indicator left, and that is the playing of Christmas carols as soon as the first of September marches in. Already, as I write this, the online conversation and blogs are filled with the photo of Jose Mari Chan and the obsessive joke among us about his song as ushering in the Yuletide carols.
I am curious how Mr. Chan, a generous and genial person, takes all this. One thing we can tell those who are so unoriginal about their thoughts is that people are tired of these commentaries. But who are we to stop them? If there is one thing we have learned about ourselves after the election season is this truth: we all are natural trolls. We will die if we do not manifest our presence online.
There is more to September than token celebrations. In history, it was in September of 1898 when La Independencia, the periodical organ of the Philippine Revolution against Spain, published its first issue. Founded and edited by Gen. Antonio Luna, the publication persisted until the Philippine-American War. This signaled, whether in raw form, the significance of newspapers in the political life of the country.
In September of 1899, the Spanish lyrics of the Philippine National Anthem titled Filipinas came out in La Independencia. The author was Jose Palma, a poet, who was also part of the staff of the said newspaper.
On September 18, 1891, the second novel of Dr. Jose Rizal, the El Filibusterismo, came out of Belgium.
It was also in wartime September of 1943 that the country, under Japanese Occupation, lived under a Japanese-sponsored 1943 Constitution. The document was signed and ratified in a general assembly. There was another organization that ratified the document and this was the member of the Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas (KALIBAPI), which was the only political organization allowed by the occupying forces. And yet it was also on September 15, 1898, that the Malolos Convention took place in Barasoain Church. The Congress drafted a Constitution, called the Malolos Constitution. On record, Apolinario Mabini was said to have opposed the draft. You see, we have a history of constitutions and ratifying them in conditions where freedom and patriotism are contentious.
In September 1956, the Laurel-Langley Agreement was ratified. This treaty took the place of the Bell Trade Act, which was perceived as generating the dependence of the Philippines on the United States. The treaty stopped the US from controlling the exchange rate of the peso and increased the sugar quota, among other things. Abolished in 1974, it is imperative to examine this treaty and observe whether we have indeed been released from the so-called “dependency.”
In the order of the month are the birth and death of persons and causes. It was in September of 1763 that Maria Josefa Gabriela Cariño Silang continued the fight against the Spanish colonizers in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, months after her husband, Diego Silang, was assassinated through the order of the church and royal authorities in Manila.
It was on September 11, 1917 that Ferdinand E. Marcos was born in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. The present president, Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., was born on September 13, 1957.
On September 12, 1896, the Thirteen Martyrs of Cavite were executed by the Spanish authorities. Macario Sakay, one of the last revolutionary leaders to surrender to the Americans, was hanged right inside the Old Bilibid Prison in Manila, on September 13, 1907.
On September 21, 1944, Martial Law was declared in the country. The man behind this declaration was the wartime president, Jose P. Laurel. It was written that he made the decision when the Allied Forces began their bombing of Davao. The writ of habeas corpus was suspended. Some 28 years later, on September 21, 1972, President Ferdinand E. Marcos declared Martial Law all over the country. The declaration abolished the Congress; civil rights were suspended. Marcos would stay in office for more than 20 years.
More memories are found in the month of September, but many of them are not songs and poetry.
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Image credits: Ed Davad