C is for Claudio and Concesa
The ABCs of Recovering Ilocano (#3 of 26)
Inauguration Day, Santa Catalina, Ilocos Sur, Philippines, 1947
These are the only two photographs I have of my paternal grandparents together. These were taken in 1947, on the occasion of my grandfather’s inauguration as the Town Mayor of Santa Catalina, Ilocos Sur.
My grandmother, whom I called Mama Ching, told me she met her future husband at a pasala, a dance during the fiesta at Bacsil, Lapog, her hometown in Ilocos Sur.
“Maestro Ago Plana introduced your Lolo Odiong to me.” Maestro was her teacher, and he often visited the town where he taught. He hailed from Santa Catalina and brought his friend Claudio to the fiesta.
Mama Ching explained that a pasala was a fundraiser. It was the only proper way for young men and women to mingle, under the elders’ watchful eyes. “The ladies each had a box, and men donated something to that box before he was granted the pleasure of a dance.”
I could imagine my grandmother wearing something like the baro’t saya she wore in this picture. Baro means shirt and saya means skirt. This traditional wear goes back to Spanish times, and the ensemble is popularly known as the Maria Clara dress. It was named after a character in Noli me Tangere, written by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal. Maria Clara became the epitome of a dalagang Filipina, a cultured, graceful, and well-mannered lady, as I imagined my grandmother to be. She must have mesmerized my grandfather with her wit and Spanish mestiza features—tall nose, high cheekbones, and big, dark eyes.
My grandmother’s face lit up with the memory of that night. “You Papang Odiong was so handsome, and a good dancer! He was dressed in all white. I noticed that he kept donating, and only to my box. We danced the night away.”
After the pasala, he wrote her letters, expressing his love and adoration. He asked her parents for her hand in marriage, and they tied the knot in June of 1938. She was not quite eighteen and he was in his early twenties.
They settled in Santa Catalina, where they lived on a piece of land jutting from the coastline, almost an island. Claudio inherited it from his parents and called it Puro. It means pure. In this tropical paradise, their love was pure, and life was good.
They raised their children there, in a kalapaw, or a hut made from bamboo and nipa. My father, Pepe, was the eldest, followed by three sisters, and a baby brother.
My grandfather managed the fishponds in Puro. He confessed to his wife an ambition he harbored—to be the ama iti ili, Town Mayor. She supported him, having loved politics from her girlhood.
“I spent many days at the Municipio and listened to the council debate the matters of the day. At home, I recreated the arguments and counterarguments. My mother, your Lola Oming, listened while she worked the loom, weaving inabel clothing, or on the Singer sewing machine.”
Together the young couple campaigned and won. They were the toast of the town, and people called them Mayor and Mayora. Mama Ching blossomed as the First Lady. She loved talking to people and relished her role as the peacemaker to troubled factions.
“Simpaen tayo,” she often said. Let’s fix it among ourselves.
Soon, there would be trouble in paradise.
Claudio and Concesa’s Legacy
When I was pregnant with my first child, I loved the name Camille Claudel, as I had just watched a movie about the French artist Rodin and his assistant. I had a boy, and Claudel went to the next family member to have a daughter. To honor our patriarch, his name lived on in various forms: Claudio Jr., Claudio III, Claudio IV (Ju-port, as Mama Ching pronounced Junior the fourth), Claudine, and Claudette.
Mama Ching, born Concesa Rosario, also passed on her name to my sister, Conchita Rosario, and two great-grandkids, whose second names were Conceso and Concesa.
Learn more about Ilocano inabel weaving
A Guide to the Philippines’ National Costume
Claudio’s hometown of Santa Catalina, Ilocos Sur is on page 322
Concesa’s hometown of San Juan (Lapog), Ilocos Sur is on page 270.
I love the Ilocos Sur Almanac for its vivid depictions of life in the north. Written by Deogracias Victor “D.V” Savellanos and published by Nanie Gonzales on issuu.com. Illustrations are beautifully done, but read the history with a grain of salt. Some war heroes may have been written into the narrative.
How did your grandparents meet?
Love these stories. How were they passed on to you and how do you remember them all?
I found some older family photographs and they too include blue Xs to mark individuals… that’s how they used to tag people. Haha.
Thanks for posting this! The "box" scenario sounds like a "box social" that was used at Filipino lodge dances in the 1960s (and which I participated in). I know that Black communities had these, too. I suspect that this derives from some kind of indigenous gifting ritual (I'm thinking also of N. American tribal potlatches). But because it got involved with fundraising for orgs., in some ways it got sort of co-opted into the capitalist system here in the U.S.