BY HERBERT L. VEGO
THIS month of June has universal popularity as “the wedding month.” To a certain extent, to be a June bride has become an obsession among young girls.
Widowed actress Boots Anson Roa, 70, must have thought it’s good for her, too. She recently walked down the aisle with second husband King Rodrigo.
When my fiancée candidly expressed her wish to be a June bride 42 long years ago, I replied I would as well like to be a June groom.
I was not supposed to marry yet though. As a 22-year-old entertainment reporter and fresh-from-college ghost writer for a newspaper columnist in Manila, I had barely saved enough money for a wedding.
But so intense was my love for her that I deceived myself that a second mouth to feed would not be much of a burden.
Though my GF was still a student, she was hoping to finish her BSE-Ed course within the second year of our conjugal affair.
I gave in to her wish to be married in June at the Roman Catholic Church of Guadalupe, Makati even if I was not a Catholic. We tied the knot on June 25, 1972 at 2 p.m.
The day started ominously with heavy typhoon rains. By the time I was riding a borrowed car on the way to the church, flood water had risen knee-deep. There was a time when the engine conked out, and I had to push the car with the help of by-standers to enable the driver to rerun it.
Thank God I arrived at the church in the nick of time.
However, by the time Fr. Francisco San Diego finished the job of pronouncing the newly-wed “man and wife,” the wind had blown harder and the rain had poured heavier. The flood water had become so non-negotiable by small cars that some of our sponsors failed to make it to the wedding reception at the bride’s house in Project 8, Quezon City.
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 to the dinner site in the company bus.
Our “honeymoon” was uniquely a sleepless night at the De Ocampo Hospital, where I had rushed the bride due to a sudden epileptic seizure
Thereafter, one problem led to another and another and another. To solve these mostly financial problems, she had to quit school for good.
The marriage failed. We broke up after eight years and one son. If there was one thing I succeeded in, it was in proving my parents right: that “singles” had to be well-prepared before plunging into “double life.” I vowed not marry again, should it be possible, in a June month.
Blame it on Rome for initiating the tradition. The Romans favored June weddings because that was the month dedicated to 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 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.
Even the term “honeymoon” has a historical origin, referring to the first moon after the summer solstice – June 21 – which was called the “honey moon.”
Unfortunately, adopting the Roman style makes no sense in Philippine setting. First, June marks the beginning of the rainy season and typhoon visits in the archipelago. Second, students having gone back to school in June, expenses are in high gear. Third, diseases like dengue, influenza and typhoid are rampant in the rainy month of June.
It would be wiser to choose December or January to exchange wedding vows. Christmas and New Year are cold-weather months; they enhance romantic air to the occasion. Finances are also up during these months./PN
