Leftover lovers

ANY PARTY host’s breakfast need not always consist of what’s left of last night’s dinner, though it still happens. I’ve attended little private dinners where the last ritual involved partitioning of the leftovers for the guests to bring home.

What some do not realize is that this is an indigenous practice that is still common among many cultures. The belief is, you extend the celebration to your doorstep, and share the blessing/food with the family. The practice even goes further with some cultures, although I do not know if it is still practiced nowadays.

A man from the Solomon Islands whom I’ve met a long time ago, said that in their place, they sometimes rub remnants of the food in their hair so that when they get home, the fam can get a whiff or an idea how good the fare was. At least for us now, some guests have plastic bags in their purses ready for such eventualities. Other hosts offer disposable containers, and Tupperware even for some relative-guests.

In the case of wedding receptions, I guess the idea of giving guests parting gifts or souvenirs, stems from this age-old tradition. In the case of royalty, like the queen of England, if they can store a wedding cake and give bit by bit to her loyal relations, what more for us commonfolk who give away decorated muffins and the like to our common-folk guests? Even indigenous brothers share choice parts of a slaughtered animal to all members of the tribe and clan, as in the Cordilleras.

In a distant connect, what’s left over of your December budget? With the holiday season over, and the contents in your wallet all but depleted, why is it so untimely that almost all the stores are unloading stuff on sale at 50 to 70 percent in January? Their leftovers coming at a time when we have little left over? A happy new year indeed, or should I say, rats!