Birthday in Cebuano is called adlaw’ng natawhan. It is a day of celebration that is marked with varying intensity of cheery-making with or without eating and drinking depending on the social class background of the person or family involved. To more religious people, it is primarily celebrated by going to the church to thank the Creator.
But it is not the day per se that cause the celebration, rather it is the worth of the person that is exalted or recognized by this social event, either the concerned spent for the feast or somebody else.
The birth of a first child is always a celebrated event in the family–being perceived as a very valuable gift. And it is not only the parents of the child that are very happy, but also the grandparents especially if it is a first grandchild. For the well-off parents, what follows are celebrations every month like having modest dinner with close members of the family until the child reaches one year old. This is when a bigger celebration is held which has been planned long before the event.
The debut of a daughter when she reaches eighteen years old, when she is now treated as a woman or a lady, is also lavishly celebrated by the rich and the middle class who can afford it as it becomes fashionable. This ritual of coming to age, however, is not culturally expected among Filipino boys, but it is marked by the circumcision ritual they have to undergo with medical doctors or traditional manunuli.
Arguably, how much is spent for the birthday and the kinds of food prepared vary across social class and culture but the spirit of the celebration is universally shared. Birthday is a manifestation of happiness and an expression of gratitude of parents who consider a child as blessing from God. Furthermore, being able to bear a child is considered by many as a fulfillment of their role as co-creator.
Parents who realized the sanctity of their roles become always conscious of bringing up the child according to what they believed are pleasing to God. In fact, they are willing to invest their fortune for the bright future of their children. Some children succeeded while others do not, but those successful have provided social security, out of their feeling of indebtedness but not really obligatory, to their elderly parents who may have limited savings or pensions for basic and medical needs.
It also becomes now the turn of children to plan and prepare for the birthday of their elderly parents. The celebration may not necessarily be lavish but is similarly intended as thanksgiving, together with relatives and friends, for the longer life to enjoy seeing their children succeed with their respective families and fields of engagement.
Some parents may have not celebrated with feast their past birthdays because they were so preoccupied with making a living for their growing-up children. Therefore, it is in the annual celebration of birthdays that children organize for their elderly parents that they can express their gratitude and recognize the value of their parent’s struggles for them.
And those asked from God such as “best of health and more years to live” in every birthday prayer said, before the cake candles are blown and the foods are shared, reflect the willingness of the children to continue celebrating birthdays every year together, with or without lavish feast, up to the last breath of their elderly parents. This is something that grandchildren can emulate for the tradition of birthday to stay.
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