We have just crossed into another year. It’s supposedly a new time. The coming of every New Year is always a momentous event – we always try to make it big in every way.
My neighbor’s kid lost a finger during the last New Year’s festivities. Many others, according to the news, lost some limb too. Parents knew too well the risks posed by the use of firecrackers. But it was New Year’s Day, they’d say, they didn’t have the heart to restrain the little ones from getting their hands on an act that had already become customary.
The old man that peddled brooms and doormats in our village said he sought a loan from an Indian moneylender to buy a good New Year’s dinner for his family. He got the money at a hefty interest, of course. At their agreed weekly instalment, it would take the poor debtor until the middle of May to fully pay off the compounded amount he owed.
These are just some of the troubles people go through in the hope of attracting good luck. The big explosions are to drive away bad luck. The big New Year’s dinner are to set a precedent for all the family meals to be as abundant the whole year round. Everybody wants to make their lives big – better, away from hardships and bad times.
Many of the things we do are dictated by tradition. We inherit certain practices from our elders. Or we see everybody else doing certain things and we just follow.
I wonder how many of us actually spare a moment to ponder on the things we do just because they’re traditional or popular. Or if it has crossed our minds that what is customary may not be actually necessary or wise. And that good custom is one that works for our wellbeing and not for our loss.
The terrible injuries brought by the New Year festivities year after year are definitely not good tradition. The resulting smoke and fumes that overcome the air, triggering asthma attacks even on those that keep away from the pyrotechnics frenzy, have become both an environmental and public health menace. The innocent lives lost by bullets from firearms fired indiscriminately in the sheer spirit of merrymaking are a reprehensible atrocity.
Likewise, spending away on a one-time celebration a sum of borrowed money that could have otherwise been better used to last longer does not set good precedent. It is, instead, a guarantee of sure hardship to come. After a single merry day, the debtor is back to his usual hard life, only harder now because he has the debt to pay.
I am not against happy celebrations. In fact, I believe we need to celebrate certain events, to commemorate certain occasions to reaffirm their significance in our lives. Any celebration shall have an evocative purpose, and shall not be simply a means of getting into a whirl to unleash our wild side.
The Sinulog Festival, for example, shall mean more to us than the engaging drumbeats and the dancing in the streets. It shall be our symbolic gesture, as Cebuanos, of asserting our part in the continuing human story in our own corner of the world; our vibrant participation in the local heritage, culture and history. It is to remind ourselves that we have a past and that we have the responsibility of making the most of our present time, because this will be our legacy to future generations.
Anniversaries are not meant to shove away the lapsed time from our consciousness, but to acknowledge our gains from it. There is always something to be gained, whether from a good or a bad year. While good luck makes us happy, hardships can make us strong.