As the tradition-rich month of May draws to a close, I pay tribute to two women who made the tradition of Flores de Mayo of my childhood and adolescence a unique and memorable one — Atty. Dativa Alfafara, the indefatigable one-armed lady lawyer fondly called Tiya Tibing and Miss Maria Belen Alcoseba fondly called Mabe who later became Sister Mabe Alcoseba, ICM. May for the community of Luanluan Street of Carcar was a very busy month from the first week for the Flores de Mayo, the middle of May for the fiesta of the Cofradia de San Jose, and the end of the month for the grand procession of Flores de Mayo.
Flores de Mayo then in Carcar was carried out by the five main streets of Carcar. Each street was given six days of taking charge of the Flores de Mayo every afternoon in the church. Luanluan was in charge of the first six days of May. Tiya Tibing and Mabe were the leading figures of the Flores de Mayo; Tiya Tibing rounding up the girls house to house while Mabe took charge of the catechism. Early morning of the first six days, I joined a group of teenagers who would go to the nearby hills and mountains to gather the fresh kalachuchi to be offered every afternoon for the Flores.
Each day of the Flores de Mayo had a different theme taken from selected titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a dramatic presentation thanks to the involvement of the talented teachers of the community.
Middle of May in preparation for the fiesta of the Cofradia de San Jose of Luanluan, Tiya Tibing would move around to invite and remind everyone involved in the activities. One interesting thing about the fiesta was the Literary-Musical Evening held before the last day of the novena which featured the local talents performing the works of the local writers and artists. I recall two revivals of two zarzuelas “Jose Vendido” by Vicente Alcoseba and “Loling Bihag” by Jose Galicano, both writers were residents of Luanluan.
May 31 was the grand procession as the culmination of the Flores de Mayo involving all five streets of Carcar. Luanluan had for its theme selected titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary taken from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. From elementary to my high school days I was always assigned the title “Seat of Wisdom” and I was dressed in black toga with golden tassel and a trophy-sized golden chair. I would ask Tiya Tibing and Miss Mabe why I was always given Seat of Wisdom, and they would tell me “Kay bright man ka.”
“Seat of Wisdom” did not strike me then. Several years later, I realized that it was an encouragement to do good in school as the opening of classes which followed just two weeks later. Now that I am a senior citizen, the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Flores de Mayo always remind me of what Tiya Tibing and Miss Mabe used to tell me of the implication of the title Seat of Wisdom. Though they are gone, I am very grateful to them for making Flores de Mayo very significant to our faith and culture and to my development as a person.