I WORE a red Filipiniana terno in 1998.
We celebrated the Philippine Centennial Celebration that year in school. In honor of our 100th year of independence, we came to school dressed in our Filipiniana attire.
It was my first time to wear the Filipiniana terno.
I remember feeling utterly amazed by the dress. It was a simple red terno with a white overskirt. The butterfly sleeves were something else. The whole dress was pretty and felt really sophisticated.
My memories of that day are a bit hazy, but I do remember having a program at school and the usual classroom salu-salo of snacks and lunch.
Later that afternoon, a whole bunch of us kids played patintero in the schoolyard. As I think about it, it must have been a fun sight to watc—little kids dressed in ternos, barong tagalogs, baro’t saya, and other traditional Filipino wear running around playing patintero.
As a newcomer back then, I barely grasped why we celebrated 100 years of independence, but I remember being told that it was a very important day. “We fought hard for our independence,” one of my teachers told me. “We should all be proud of being Filipino.”
I remember feeling a sense of pride that day. As I got a first deep glimpse of our history so many years ago, I remember that I felt a swell of happiness and pride in me that still resonates strongly today as I think about our country.
In celebration of the 100th year, I got one of those special commemorative pins. I had it proudly pinned on my dress. Unfortunately, while playing all those patintero games, I lost the pin in the process. I remember feeling rather sad about losing such a special pin.
I think those moments many years ago helped plant a seed of that deep sense of pride and love for our country.
Tomorrow, we celebrate our 120th Independence Day. I hope people share the same meaningful memories of the day, or hopefully, even more than I did many years ago.
While tomorrow is a day we take a break from school or work, let’s also remember why we celebrate this very important day. If you have younger siblings, cousins, and friends around you, share what you know about our country’s history and our story of independence.
As I think of Independence Day, I think of the red terno dress of many years ago. I still keep it at home, still as vibrantly red as it was the first time I wore it.
And that’s our history—vibrant. Let’s not forget about tomorrow and let’s keep that strong fire burning for a deep love of country.
Happy Independence Day, everyone!