FORTY-SIX 46 years ago today, I was a starry-eyed 22-year-old bachelor preparing for a June wedding just because I wanted to appease my fiancée who would like to be a June bride.
At age 22 in the year 1972, I was not supposed to marry yet. As a tyro newspaperman in Manila and fresh out of Journalism school, I had barely saved enough money for a wedding. I would be displeasing my parents who were hoping I would keep my promise to send my younger siblings to college.
I tricked myself into believing that, since I was already earning excess money for myself, a second mouth to feed would be peanuts. I didn’t consider it a problem that my girl was still a student, hence jobless.
I agreed to marry her in the Roman Catholic Church of Guadalupe, Makati even if I was not a Catholic, on June 25, 1972.
The day started ominously with heavy rains that proved the weatherman right: Typhoon signal No. 3 had struck Metro Manila. By the time I was riding a borrowed car on the way to the church, floodwater had risen knee-deep. There was a time when the engine conked out and I had to push the car with the help of bystanders to enable the driver to rerun it and reach the church in the nick of time.
While Fr. Francisco San Diego was pronouncing the newly-wed “man and wife,” the wind was blowing harder and the rain was pouring heavier. The floodwater had become so nonnegotiable by small cars that some of our sponsors failed to make it to the wedding reception.
Fortunately, one of our wedding sponsors was the late Dr. Jose Perez, the big boss of what was then the biggest film firm, Sampaguita Pictures. He had our guests transported by company bus to the reception.
Nevertheless our supposedly ecstatic honeymoon turned into a “sleepless disaster” at the nearest hospital due to the bride’s sudden epileptic seizure.
To make the long story short, I and my wife broke up after eight years and one son. A lesson learned too late: “Singles” had to be well-prepared before plunging into “double life.”
Only then did I know that the June marriage tradition started in Rome to honor Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage. There was a practical side to it: A marriage in June could result in a conception early enough so that a wife wouldn’t be so full with child as to stay at home during the harvest. A June wedding also meant that the baby would be born soon enough for the bride to be in shape for the next harvest.
Indeed in pre-contraceptive Europe, getting married in June meant that children conceived from June unions would be born the following spring, increasing their chances of survival after the long – and often very lean – winter months.
The Hollywood movie industry exploited and boosted the popularity of June as the wedding month by churning movies sustaining that image. Among these movies were June Bride (1948) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954).
Unfortunately, the Roman style makes no sense in Philippine setting because, first, June marks the beginning of the rainy season and typhoon visits in the archipelago. Second, back-to-school expenses are in high gear. Third, diseases like dengue, influenza and typhoid are rampant in the rainy month of June.
Therefore, it would be wiser to marry in December or January when cold weather enhances the romantic air. (hvego31@gmail.com /PN)
