
by Rose Cruz Churma
The Essence Of Time: Puleo’o by Christine Sabado is the first of several books of this series—a tribute to her mother-in-law, Severina Georgia Blen Sabado, who came to Hawai’i from Abra province in the Philippines as a fourteen-year-old.
The two women came from different backgrounds, but are made of the same cloth: durable but sponge-like, absorbing and adapting to what life brought them.
In her dedication, the author notes, “As I stood by your deathbed, you told me stories for the future. After your passing, you came every night in my dreams, reminding me which stories to tell…”
In this memoir, Christine Sabado shares her love story with the Island of Molokai, the pineapple plantation camp of Maunaloa located on the westernmost part of the island, and the Sabado family.
In marrying Philip Sabado, the youngest in an Ilokano family of 12 siblings, she became an intrinsic part of this large family and adjusted to the rhythms of life in a plantation camp, which is in stark contrast to her previous life.
She was a blonde and blue-eyed California teenager from an upper-middle-class family when she first set foot in Molokai.
In the second chapter of the book, she describes how she met Phil and fell in love, and the apprehensions she felt as they prepared to meet Phil’s family in Molokai.
Mama, as she calls her mother-in-law, the matriarch of the Sabado clan, is described in greater detail in Chapter 3. A painting of Mama in her native attire is featured on the first page of the chapter, one of Phil Sabado’s artworks.
Mama was from Abra, one of the landlocked provinces of the Cordillera region. She was from the Ifugao tribe, but her father was a musician from Shanghai, China, as shared by relatives, which accounted for her fair skin and penetrating eyes.
On Mama’s voyage to Hawai’i in the early 1920s, only married women were allowed, since there were so many single men on board. A single woman traveling alone would be too vulnerable. An uncle became her pretend husband, which allowed her entry on the ship that would bring her to Hawai’i.
In the next chapters, the author describes her introduction to Molokai and the sights and sounds of plantation life, and the acknowledgment that she had to learn a lot in a short time, not only the Sabado family’s native tongue but also the cultural nuances of the place.
In this case, it was not only the transplanted Filipino culture, but also the Hawaiian host culture.
In the process of telling her story, the author also provides the historical, geographical, and cultural context so any reader unfamiliar with Hawai‘i’s history will appreciate and understand.
This storytelling style is seamlessly used when the narratives take place in other places, like Glendale.
In a chapter devoted to her Glendale background, she was able to describe that era when racism was the rule rather than the exception.
So it was quite surprising when she noted that her parents accepted Phil immediately.
“This man has no meanness in him, he is a fine person. If this marriage fails, I will hold you responsible,” her father declared, while her mother was clearly spellbound.
In the same chapter, Christine describes how she met her friend, Gloria, a Filipina she met at the Honolulu airport when United Airlines happened to have a workers’ strike.
The Red Cross put up cots for the long wait, and this local girl, who slept next to her on the floor, not only became her instant friend but eventually became her pen pal.
Gloria wanted to live in California, while Christine was in love with Hawai’i. Gloria offered to have Christine stay at her family’s home when she finally moved to Hawai’i, which Christine did.
Fresh from high school, Christine moved to Hawai’i to attend art school at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and stayed with Gloria’s family at their apartment at Kuhio Park Terrace in Kalihi, quite a contrast to her Glendale home.
The author’s storytelling was able to capture the essence of those times. She recalls Gloria’s mom, Pauline, worked at the Manila Bar and did her best to make a happy home, and called her a hanai daughter.
“To adapt to my new home, I listened carefully and memorized the rhythm and cadence of pidgin English, like a ‘shortcut English’ spoken by everyone in my new family.”
Throughout the book, the author showed how she not only listened carefully but also observed island life in great detail and absorbed it like a sponge. We are lucky that she is able to share her reflections of those days in a lyrical and thoughtful way, or describe cultural practices in great detail.
This is most evident in the chapter titled “Wedding Preparations.”
She notes that “we had three pigs (over 900 pounds of pork), 295 chickens, and two cows. The guest list would top over 1500 people, a significant portion of Molokai’s population.”
Since it was a Filipino custom for the groom’s family to pay for the wedding, most of the food items were gifts from the groom’s relatives.
She also noticed how, in a home gathering, chairs would be lined up against the walls with the central area vacant. The women sat together on one side of the room, and the men sat on the opposite side.
But the centerpiece of the gatherings was the food.
She recalled that when she sat down to eat, everyone would pass by to look at her plate to see if she was brave enough to try the food the other guests made.
She was accepted when she ate their food—“No more da haole eat dis kine, you are Filipina now,” would be a common comment.
Eating and appreciating the food was an important step in being accepted.
This book is not only a love story and a memoir but also a social commentary.
As one reviewer noted, “it is an amazing tale of the customs, cultures, and beliefs of the Hawaiian and Filipino people of Hawai’i, which few outsiders ever see.”
What Phil Sabado can capture in his beautiful artwork, his wife Christine was able to translate into insightful prose.
This book is highly recommended.
ROSE CRUZ CHURMA established Kalamansi Books & Things three decades ago. It has evolved from a mail-order bookstore into an online advocacy with the intent of helping global Pinoys discover their heritage by promoting books of value from the Philippines and those written by Filipinos in the Diaspora. We can be reached at kalamansibooks@gmail.com.
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