May is the month of our laborers and farmers

Since the Spanish times, May was the month the whole nation paid tribute to our laborers and farmers. May 1st is Labor Day because it is the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker and May 15 is the Feast of San Isidro Labrador, Patron Saint of farmers. So the two days are holidays based on traditional holydays. Last April 30, we wrote on Labor Day. This Saturday, we dedicate our column to our agricultural workers.

When the Spaniards colonized the Philippines, they introduced the plow and the carabao to the farmers as the instrument and animal of San Isidro Labrador who aside from being the patron saint of farmers was also the patron saint of Madrid, capital of Spain. By a big coincidence, his feast day coincided with the start of the rains and so devotees also associated his day with the monsoon rains.

We have two outstanding San Isidro feasts in the country: the Carabao Festival in Pulilan, Bulacan and the Pahiyas of Lucban and Sariaya, Quezon. Both are top tourist attractions. In Spain, the snow-white oxen is the animal that always accompanies San Isidro’s plow. Here, it is the carabao and in Pulilan, the feast of San Isidro is literally a homage to the carabao. The carabaos are shaven and bathed, decorated with flowers and are an integral part of the procession for they pull the carts that contain the farmer’s family, an image of San Isidro plus the seeds that will be used during the planting season. The height of the celebration is when the carabaos kneel and walk like penitents when they pass the church.

The Pahiyas, on the other hand, is the fiesta when both Lucban and Sariaya turn their town into the most dazzling spectacle in the whole country. Every home where the procession will pass is decorated with fruits, vegetables and kiping. If one were to present a Filipino fiesta on stage, the Pahiyas would undoubtedly be the best fiesta to present.

Fiestas are our highest community expression. And we are glad to say that we have at least two fiestas that are indeed fitting tributes to our farmers. We mentioned that the feast day of San Isidro coincides with the start of the rainy season, another big coincidence is that harvest marks the start of our Christmas season. That is why we have the Simbang gabi. We go to Mass at four o’clock in the morning starting Dec. 16 because the farmers could not go to Mass later as they had to be at the fields harvesting their crop at the break of dawn, and they celebrate the harvest after going to Mass. To this day, people in Metro Manila hear the Christmas novenary Masses at four o’clock in the morning. Unlike the farmers, they don’t have to be at the fields harvesting at the crack of dawn. But traditions do not die down after their original purpose no longer serves. So the simbang gabi is part of our Christmas tradition even in urban centers. So farmers influence our behavior to this very day.

Farmers are modest tillers of the soil. We say modest for they toil in total obscurity. Everything starts with the cultivation of the soil. Without farmers, there can be no laborers, employees, businessmen, accountants, lawyers, architects, engineers, doctors, congressmen and senators. But status-wise, they are the low men in the totem pole.

We wish all the farmers a happy Feast of San Isidro Labrador.