Hello August!
August is one of the memorable month for us as a family, its my Mom and Dad's month. They'll be celebrating their 34th years together this coming 23rd. But before we celebrate their union, another milestone will happen in our family, our cousin JEP (Joseph Emmanuel Perez) will be getting married on 20th to JHO (Josephine).
Even its not our first in Doha family na may ikasal dito, first was Sze and Shawn then Peach and Glen, iba pa rin talaga siguro yung sa Pinas. Of course here limited lang yung invited I mean we're from a big family pero since dito kung sino na lang ang nandito. Second, kapag dito sa Philippine embassy not in the church, the solemnizing officer will be the consul and not the priest/ pastor unlike in other country na kahit expatriates ka pwede, here in Qatar hindi pwede. Third, the preparation - siguro mas less pressure and stress lang dito ng konti kasi nga since the wedding will be simple, hindi naman nga ganong kadetalye, all you have to have is time to prepare and money to pay.
Last Friday, we agreed to meet up to discuss the details of the program and to know our "role" and responsibilities at the wedding reception...kapit bisig Doha Family! We didn't invite the couple to join us. We called the meeting as "Mamamaysan Meeting"
Meet the "Mamamaysan" Team
I am not sure if all of you knows the term "mamamaysan". Mamamaysan is a tagalog word for groom's family and friends who will do all the chores and preparations before the wedding day. Here's what I found from one article regarding the usual things that mamamaysan and its duties the night before the wedding day:
"At the break of dawn, the groom's
family is abuzz, preparing the sundry of things that will be hauled
to the bride's place. Vehicles are borrowed and hired –jeeps,
jeepneys, tricycles–to haul the kith-kin-and-caboodle, literally.
Kin, friends, neighbors, wedding attire, bridal gown, pots, pans, plates,
utensils, are crammed inside and atop the vehicles. A single pig will
fit in a tricycle. A few pigs, for the occasion of a grander wedding,
will need an elf or jeepney. The side of the vehicles is decorated with
fresh fronds of coconut leaves (see insert). The jeepney is loaded with
passengers to the rooftop, and although illegal, the coconut fronds
identify it as a wedding vehicle, and local police usually just turn
their heads away.
Arriving at the bride's house, welcoming starts
with the "tasting of the kalamay." Each side tastes the others'
kalamay' concoction, with the usual exchange of praise as to whose tastes
better. Meanwhile, the bridal gown is taken to a designated room in
the house; no fitting is allowed for fear that the wedding might not
happen.
The kitchen has started
to buzz alive. Preparations slow to start, pick up into full swing.
On one end of the bilik, a pig is being slaughtered. The blood is collected
for the preparation of the "dinuguan" dish which will be the
traditional dinner entree. The rest of the pig will be divided and amounts
allotted for the preparation of other foods for the traditional wedding
feast: embotido (finely chopped meat), apritada (catsup based) and menudo
(pineapple based). And if the pig meat supply will afford, the additional
dishes of ginulayan (milk), pochero (banana) , sinantomas (bone-based)
and rebosado (fried pigskin in batter)."
Nowadays, only few people practice that customs. There are a lot of wedding sites and coordinators that you can check and hire to lessen the pressures and stress in preparing for the big day.
We created our own version of "mamamaysan" since the groom is from our side.
That's one of the joy of having a family despite of being away from home, may susuporta even not financially ^_____^ and there are someone who can help you to do some errands on your day, less stress na rin yon di ba? There are some changes on that list that we did during our meeting. Preparation for a big and important occasion is a bit stressful here compare to Pinas in a sense na hindi ka basta makakapagfile ng leave of absence sa work mo, kaya you need to maximize all the time you have in arranging everything to your suppliers minus the bridal gown naman kasi since hindi naman church wedding mas simple lang.
We also discuss the reception program in detailed. And since we're not in Philippines, very limited lang ang mga resources na pwedeng kuhanin namin to execute some of the customs in a Filipino wedding. Just to clear out guys I'm not into "pamahiin" or superstition, of course ang pagsasama ng dalawang tao is depende yan sa kanila, it should be triangle nga di ba - the husband, the wife and GOD.
We Filipinos have a rich customs and traditions and even in wedding celebration there are some practices that's already part of culture. Hope we can have some of those at the reception program, but first we need to check where to find suman and kalamay ^_____^
I advise you if you are planning to get married, have at least one (1) year of planning ahead. Its better na mahaba yung time ng pagpla-plan kesa naman ngaragness ang beauty mo on your wedding day.
Wedding is milestone kaya dapat lang pinagplaplanuhan at pinaghahandaan. Di ba mas maganda if you'll have a memorable wedding and a happy marriage? so ngayon pa lang if you have plan to get married next year, start to plan now.
