Good-Bye 2004, Welcome 2005!
By: Christy A. Cañete

Another momentous year of our life has ended, and another new year has come our way. As we leave the year of the monkey, we are filled with excitement as well as apprehensions about the prospects of the year 2005. The same questions come up into our minds – What would happen next? Many fortune tellers have tried to read the lines in the palm of our hands to satisfy our inquisitiveness, but for others, this doesn’t make any sense at all! For they believe that tomorrows success depends on what we can do today. However, our fate – only God knows!

Last December 31, 2004, Dipolog City was one of the thousands of cities all over the world who joyfully welcomed the year of the rooster. Before the midnight had approached, the Dipolognons have already prepared for the festive event. The busy streets, the overcrowded malls and markets, the aroma of delicious cooked foods to be prepared for the Noche Buena, the joys of the children playing on the streets, the excited people, and the numerous vendors of fire crackers lining up on the side road were some of the activities that have been observed. As I wandered around the busy city, I have seen a lot of people making some variety of preparations for the said celebration. Not only chaotic buyers have I seen but as well as the abundance of vendors as well. Inside the public market, many kinds of fruits were displayed, sold at plunged prices. There were grapes, chicos, pineapple, bananas, Chinese pomelo, apple, water melon, oranges, pears, mangoes, kiat-kiat, jackfruit, etc.

Traditionally, a variety of thirteen fruits are usually prepared by each Filipino family during the New Year’s Eve. According to the grapevine that, through the said tradition, good fortunes and blessings will be obtained on the approaching year, or this is what the Visayans usually called “palihi”. And, of course, the New Year’s Eve would not be completely welcome without the fire crackers. Various kinds of fire crackers were available, such as the triangles, super lolo, pla-pla, fountains, twitis, Juda’s belt, and the like. But as what I have observed, it seems that only few costumers have bought these explosive stuffs. This is, maybe, because of the fact that all of us are suffering from crisis. “I’d rather buy some delicious foods than waste my money to those dangerous stuffs. One boom and your 300 pesos is gone into the air,” according from a nice fellow I’ve talked with. And, visibly, he’s right. Not only that they’re risky and dangerous, the fire crackers do cost a little expensive this kind of season. Thus, only “those who can afford to buy” have bought them home. For others, however, especially to those Chinese people, it has already been an irrevocable part of tradition. Actually, the old custom has said to be originated from China. Going back on the ancient era, the practice has been habitually done consistently when the New Year comes, mainly to drive the evil spirits away. Through this, good fortunes will be abundant on the successive year. Aside from this, fire crackers are fun to look at, and the New Year’s Eve will possibly seem to be boring without them.

When darkness has finally covered the city, the whiff of the forthcoming year 2005 can be felt into the air. There were street parties held on some parts of the town, particularly on the Boulevard and Jones Street, wherein the residents harmoniously joined together for the celebration. The vivacious beats of loud music from the disco can be extremely heard, as well as the blissful children on the streets.  A number of people can be seen dancing on the roads, having a good time while waiting for the midnight. But in the middle of all these excitements, there were some people who were still sincerely working, spending their time on the job in which they had already dedicated themselves, all in the name of service. Most of these people were the hospital employees, knowing the fact that accidents never choose time on its occurrence. The ambulances are also visible everywhere, ready to respond to emergencies. Even the fire stations are alert in case of some fire accidents since fire crackers are very rampant in this moment. There were also some policemen who kept on roaming around the place, making sure that peace and order can be mainly secured.

Few seconds drew near before the New Year cross the threshold, and the thrill of excitement scattered all over the place, wherein everybody prepared themselves for the coming of this one crucial event. When the most awaited and ultimate second has passed, the night suddenly turned like a festive carnival. Everyone wore themselves their pretty smiles, greeting each other a “Happy New Year!” Some even called up their loved ones who were far away from them during that time just to greet and express how they truly love and miss them. The earsplitting fire crackers can be extremely heard everywhere, and the colorful sparkling figures were visible on the dark sky in which everybody was amazed. The place became so very noisy. The environment was filled with joy and happiness and unity, an expression that tells how they preciously welcomed the year 2005.

Now that year 2004 has finally ended, it doesn’t merely mean a farewell. For all the endeavors and hardships that we had encountered, and for all the tears, joys, and pains that we had experienced during the previous year, memories still stay the same as they were and all we can do is to correct the mistakes we have done. We can they say that those were just spices of life so that we can change ourselves into better persons. The journey of life goes on, thus, good-bye 2004 and welcome 2005!