The Roving, Ronin Hare

Originally written and published on September 17, 2016.           This is a five-part spiritual reflection on my identity as a Bicolano. Each part consists of a theme that will later on culminate into "something" that I will share to the rest of the Bicolanos.           Last year, I posted a short essay about my birthday as it coincided with the feast day of the patroness of Bicolandia, our Ina. Every year starting this year until 2020, the details of my life as it centers around Ina will be particularized. This part will reveal some of the details about my family. Part I: My Family My family on our mother's 65th birthday and retirement party.           I still remember the exact date, September 17, 1994, when, as a young seven-year-old child, I was giddily preparing my things for a short family trip to Naga City, about a hundred kilometers to the north. My parents earlier excitedly told us, us three siblings, that we will be there. That wasn't my first time, that

Our Lady of Peñafrancia Photo Credit: eazytraveler through flickr.   Originally written and published on September 21, 2015.      Yesterday, my heart bleeds yellow. It was my birthday, which coincided with the Feast Day of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, patroness of Bicol. Having been born on the feast day of our "beloved" Ina 28 years ago to Bicolano parents, I consider myself a Bicolano through and through, both by blood and by culture. My parents, incidentally, were also married on the same feast day four years before my birth.        Growing up, I have always been concerned about Bicol Region, oftentimes having in mind that we are among the poorest of regions in the nation, so that when I learned that I myself was born on the feast day of Ina, I was delightfully surprised, eventually uttering to myself, "I never knew that my birthday was that special."     Yesterday was the last day of the 9-day celebration of the feast day of Ina. Although I am hundreds of miles aw