Indigenous Ingenious in Independence Day
A Country Harkens back to Ereyesteday Via Pinoy Pride and Filipino fun.
“I enter the future with a memory of the past.”
- Jose Rizal
Of all the Rizal quotes, this one stands head and shoulders above them all. Remembering the past and building atop it the future is a philosophy I hold near and dear, and it is a philosophy I use when keeping in mind Independence Day.
Why We Celebrate
If one rewinds the clock back a few centuries, one will see a revolutionary era defined by the publishing of Rizal novels, the tearing of community tax certificates, the ending of Spaniard rule, and the discovering of a national identity.
We look back on the founding of this country on Independence Day, and look back on it in the way that we should, by solemnly saluting the honorable and venerable men and women who made nationhood a possibility:
Tandang Sora who nursed the sick and wounded, Macario Sakay with his combat fortitude and long hair, General Luna with his legendary zeal in and out of the battlefield, Andres Bonifacio with his leadership that helped the fledgling Filipinos, and Jose Rizal who weaponized the written word and united the archipelago into a nationalistic fervor.
It was on June 12, 1898 when the classic national anthem of Lupang Hinirang for the first time in all its musical glory, and the flag of the Philippines, which was originally sewn by the chief seamstress Marcela Agoncillo along with her eldest daughter and Rizal’s niece, had finally been hoisted upwards for our all our countrymen to behold.
The blue of the design symbolizes peace, the red underneath signifies courage out of conflict, the three stars indicate the three primary island clusters of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, and the eight rays of the sun represent the eight original provinces where revolution had broken out. Quite famously, the flag is flipped at the first sign of war. Red on blue.
After the Americans forcibly interposed themselves into the maelstrom of war and conquest, the revolution was left unfinished, though the ephemeral yet ethereal glimpse of genuine sovereignty and liberty and freedom that had arisen from the nascent nation was to be embedded in the hearts and minds of its citizens forevermore. It would inevitably be consecrated and realized four decades after the fact.
It is on Independence Day that we pay tribute to our forebears, to our country, to our past, to our future, and to ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to harbor and cultivate historical consciousness. With this regard, may we carry on the name of action through ceremony.
How May One Celebrate?
We herald the coming of Independence Day.
The activities of the event are oft prepared and led by various government agencies and members of the public sector, such as the raising of the flag and the laying of wreaths. This is done in dedication to the fallen bayanis, or national heroes, of every creed and breed who gave their lives over the course of our long and tumultuous history, whether it’d be in revolution, in World War, or under the tyranny of autocratic martial law.
You also get to marvel at brilliant floats, talented dancers, and members our armed forces march for the Independence Day Parade. You’ll find several stunning showcases of patriotic pride in an honorable heritage, as this day in the calendar is always jam-packed with a quick succession of cultural showings, dance shows, and crowd concerts.
This national holiday has been known to go beyond the country itself. We Filipinos are a lot of things, but not one of them is a gatekeeper, especially when the Filipino diaspora can be spotted loud and proud all over the world: Norway, California, Belgium, New England, you name it.
They’ve even made strides in what Hamilton the musical called the greatest city in the world, New York. Feast your eyes for traditional dances and the numinous food stalls found all along the street fair. In terms of establishing global connections, few can hold a candle to Filipinos.
But it’s not just about the bright lights and vibrant atmosphere, it’s also about doing a deep dive and reflecting on what the past is actually about. One may go about this by, of course, reading Filipino literature, viz. Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibusterismo, but I would also recommend readings from national writer Nick Joaquin, aka Quijano de Manila, most prominently The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic, as well as A Question of Heroes, which tells you information behind the scenes of the revolution that you might never heard of before.
If you want to really get in the mood for Independence Day by taking the cinematic route, then might I suggest setting aside some time to watch Filipino flicks set during the climax of our historical process: Goyo: The Boy General, Heneral Luna, and The Great Raid.
However you choose to memorialize the past, make sure to do it as faithfully and as honestly as one could. We keep forth in holding on these sacrosanct acts of merrymaking with all the joviality in the world, lest we forget an independence that was won and lost and won all over again.