Nostalgia hits hard as I walk through a Mini Museum

Hello hive friends!

Last June 12 my country Philippines celebrated its 125th Independence Day.

TRIVIA:

Do you know that the Philippines used to celebrate its Independence Day on July 4?

Here a short excerpt from that part of history...

The independence of the Philippines was marked by Manuel Roxas retaking his oath as President of the Philippines, eliminating the pledge of allegiance to the United States required prior to independence. Independence thereafter was celebrated on July 4th of every year until 1962.

source

After Spain lost the Philippines to the United States of America in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898, United States took over the control of the Philippines until July 4, 1945 when USA granted the country its freedom. On the other hand, Filipino revolutionaries who fought hard to free the country from Spanish rule, thought the country was finally free from foreign control, declared Independence on June 12, 1898, and established the Philippine Republic by the Revolutionary Government under General Emilio Aguinaldo. It was the first Philippine Republic.

The change from July 4 to June 12 was to commemorate this most significant event of Philippine history when Filipinos for the first time declared and exercise their right to self determination, liberty and independence. Historians and political leaders believe that the foundation date of the nation should be June 12, since July 4 was the restoration of that independence. July 4 later on was commemorated as Filipino-American Friendship Day.

source

Sharing this bits of history as I was reminded of July 4, USA's Independence Day and knowing about these two countries' shared history.

Anyhow, talking about the past, nostalgia hits me hard as I happened to walk inside the school library and found old things on display that was used in the past. Seeing these things, I remembered my earliest childhood when we still used these on a daily basis when modern technology is not yet that advanced.

A glimpse to my childhood

Happy is how I remember my early childhood days as we played and ran around my grandmother's house. Along with these fun and happy memories are the things that we used to have around the house.

The Baul or Treasure Chest

My lola (grandmother) had this large treasure chest at home but, it wsn't the treasure chest that you expected to be. As I flip back on my memory pages, it did not contain any gold bars or whatever precious metals and stones. The treasure chest we had back then only contained my lola's clothes. 😃 Yeah, we only had clothes inside it, not gold but my memories that comes with it is more valuable than any precious things.

The Gasera or Old Lamp

Back then, there was no electricity yet, and the gasera is our light in the darkness. My tito (uncle) used to fill it with oil before the night took over. This was our light in the dinner table as we ate together. And when dinner is done, we carried it to the living room. When the night was young, my tito would entertain us with his stories about history. He was an eloquent story teller that got us hooked up to his stories every night. Oh, how I love those stories at night. One of the reason, I really love history too because of his influence though sadly I didn't inherit his story telling ability. 😪

The Plantsa or Flat Iron

No electricity?, no problem, we can still iron out those wrinkled clothes back then with this vintage flat iron. This is one of the things I considered the most dangerous appliance in the house if you will not be careful. You might get burned.

Do you know how to use it?

Smoldering coal were placed inside the flat iron and when it gets hot that's when you use it to iron the wrinkled clothes.

The flat iron was a lot heavier than the electric flat iron nowadays that it was a risk when you go ironing because you might also burn the clothes. It was risky and laborious way just to wear a neat looking clothes back then.

The Bakya

The bakya is a counterpart to the flipflops of today. The difference is that the sole is made of wood which is without insole lining. Imagine walking in these pairs. 😆You'll be bruising your feet and the tic tac noise you make as you walk around is annoying. But thankfully, I only remembered using this pair in comfort rooms. 😅

The Banga

This type of pot was where we store water for drinking. Most of the kitchen wares my lola had back then were earthenwares and glass or aluminum. I don't remember having kitchenwares made of plastics. What I love this pot is that the water stored inside becomes cooler. It has a natural cooling effect to the water stored inside. Water scooped from this pot was so refreshing.

Looking back, I can say life was simple and laborious. It was slow paced but still it was fun. But for the adults back then, it was hard. Thankfully, technology has advanced so much that now we don't have to do so much laborious work just to be able to drink, to wear neat clothes or wear hard flipflops. I could say life of today is too easy. I couldn't blame my parents when they look back on those hard days to remind me to stop complaining and work harder. I remember my mom always say... "kami gane sauna (we used to)" and then narrates the hardships they experience and compare their lives to ours today. Their struggles are valid.

Have you lived with these things too? How do you remember it?

I hope everyone has a good time. Thank you for reading.