Christmas, New Year and Fiesta Señor

WE WENT to one of the ubiquitous malls in Cebu and wasn’t surprised that it was teeming with people. In ordinary days, you can park almost anywhere because only few vehicles occupy the parking bays. Yesterday, we took time to look for a vacant slot. As they say, it’s that time of year. The bonuses have been given and they are being spent, with Christmas only six days away.

I rode a taxicab a few days ago and the talk with the cabbie eventually drifted to the Christmas season and the flood of people in the metropolis that are hailing taxis. This is the time of year when cabbies are supposed to cash in. Unfortunately for them, the flood of commuters has come with a price. Traffic gridlocks are also being created almost everywhere. That lessens the number of trips they can make in a day.

My wife and I completed setting up Christmas decors in the house days ago. It is an annual ritual we make. We always do this after All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. But there are other things to prepare, especially for the eve of Christmas. Some gifts have already been set aside but we still have to wrap some items for the carolers that stray in the neighborhood. My wife prefers to give these rather than money.

On a personal note, I thank all of those who gave me gifts for Christmas. I won’t mention them but some of the givers do this every Christmas season. Receiving gifts as we also give gifts to others is what enlivens the season.

With the Christmas season in, New Year is surely around the bend. Us journalists only put off work for a few days during the year, two of these are during Christmas (Dec. 24 and 25) and one for the New Year (Jan. 1). Our ritual during the eve of Christmas and the eve of the New Year is to light some pyrotechnics and explode some firecrackers.

I say that will still be practiced even with Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang. The worry that a Duterte presidency would mean the extension of the firecrackers ban from Davao City to the entire nation seems misplaced—at least for this season. In Cebu City, firecrackers are being sold but only at the South Road Proper- ties (SRP). With Tomas Osmeña as mayor, I don’t think we will see firecrackers and pyrotechnics sold in malls.

Which makes the 2017 Christmas season interesting. Will the firecrackers/ pyrotechnics ban be finally put in place by then? Let us see.

After the New Year is the feast of the Child Jesus on the third Sunday of next month, an activity mainly held at the Basilica del Sto. Nino. On the same day would be the Sinulog grand parade. Again, with Osmeña at the helm, some changes are being put in place. The parade will end before darkness settles in the city, which means there won’t be any fireworks display. But I think some malls and the Basilica will have theirs.

One thing good is Osmeña’s promise to clamp down on drunkenness in the streets during the grand parade and after. That was one of my complaints in last year’s Sinulog when Michael Rama was the mayor. The Rama administration failed to curb the drunkenness and unruly behavior that surfaced in some streets at that time. With Osmeña’s warning, and after the police-initiated “tokhangs” (“toktok-hangyo”) I think unruly behavior would be lessened because the untruly ones are mostly drug addicts.

From Christmas to New Year to Fiesta Senor, that’s a long stretch of merrymaking. I hope everything would be peaceful all throughout.