New Moon

Title

New Moon

Year

1936

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

278 THE YoUNd CITIZEN November, i93iJ Dear Children: We are a happy group of barrio boys who live in a farming neighborhood. We often play together during the moonlight night~. Our ages are frnm seven to thirteen years. Do you like to hear some of our exciting and interesting expe·riences? Here they are! The Playe1·s NEW MOON WHAT a night! It was All Saints' Day. We decided to go around the neighborhood to sing the traditional songs. We started late in the evening when the new moon poured forth its light on the dark shadows of the nipa houses, fields and trees. From "Ba Teb~n." the grand old man of tht? village. Luis boirowed an old guitar. He bega;.1 playing it to rh.e _tune of a religious song. We sang the song many times from one house to another. The song was li)te thiS: . List to the song of spirits Our songs of agony and pain Spirits will be wandering The graveyard to see once again. If alms you should care to ·.give -us. Please do so as fast as You can. Lest before we reach the. heaven Its· door may no longer be open MOONLIGHT By LINA M. SANTIAGO Zamora Elementary School \English Translation of ryhmes by LULU DE LA PAZ) I We foun'd our neighbors to ·be very kind and good to us. . They offered us some centavos for our songs. Ot~ers .. iiivited us -to their houses ~o enjoy spoonfuls of "guinatan," pieces of "calamay," "tinumis at puto," and some "suman" which were purposely pre· pared for the hungry little souls who traveled in the cold black night. Then we rested awhile,· returned the guitar we borrowed. and . walked our way along the Muddy road to the cemetery. Stories of ghosts and goblins crept into our imagination. We were very much afraid, so we ran as fast as we could. We reached the cemetery perspiring and cold. Our fear was lessened when we saw bright light~ everywhere in ~he place. It was coming from the "sulo" or bamboo torches locally made by th~ farmers in their homes. We went iround the graves of the young and the old. We found out that they were decorated with flowering plants and vines which looked like small gardens with white fences. Midnight was near. We heard the call of the "tuko'' or gecko coming from the bamboo thickeu around. We remembered the evil spirits that ran after children at midnight. The more we became afraid. the more we could not start for home because our little feet would not carry us farther. In our hurry to go home, we jumped into an empty cart nearby, crowded ourselves together. and suddenly fell asleep . . To our surprise, th:? next morning we found ourselves still in the cart but in another place. We all rubbed our eyes and exclaimed· "Really, did the ghosts bring us here"? "Where are we"? "Why"? 2. FIRST QUARTER WHEN the moon. was on its first quarter, W:? were very anxious to sec a "moro-moro" play. We borrowed the cart. of Mario'.!. father and the carabao of Luis' father, and off we went to town. We sat inside the roofed cart while Luis who acted as o~r guide rode on the carabao'.i back. In . order to spend the time happily, we planned to sing some country songs.

Media