Ever since I was a little girl, all my strength in character and stubborness were always summed up in one phrase, "Siyempre! You're a Fojas girl kasi!" ("Of course! It's because you're a Fojas girl!")
As I got older, the phrase simply evolved into "Siyempre! You're a Fojas womyn!" All of my Ates, or older female cousins and I, grew up with this phrase and the concept that accompanies it.
As I previously mentioned in a post earlier this year, we do have a tradition of having strong womyn on the Fojas side of the family. We are indeed a matriarchal family.
So what are the characteristics of a Fojas womyn? For starters, our brothers, as well as the men we are married to and our significant others, will surely attest to our stubborness and strong will. We don't back down easy, especially when we are faced with adversity. We are confident and intelligent. We are loyal, almost to a fault. Altruism and compassion are also some of our best characteristics. And honey, do we have attitude. We are all outspoken and make no apologies for who we are. We can't forget about that. I think this also why the men in our family marry strong womyn.
Most importantly, we are known for our perseverance and overcoming obstacles in our lives. We are all survivors in our own right.
I believe that these characteristics are indeed inherent in the womyn in our family, but it also has a lot to do with being raised with talk stories of my great grandmothers and grandmothers. These phenomenal and extraordinary Fojas womyn continue to live on as long as we keep talking about them and telling their stories.
There is another virtue that all the Fojas womyn possess that bind us together through the generations. It is the reason why so many of us are able to overcome so many challenges in our lives. It is what gives us the courage to move past and move on. It is the light that guides us and helps us make sense out of the irrational. Do you really need to ask what it is? It's LOVE.
Whether it is love for family, love for a husband or significant other, or love for kapwa-tao or community. All our actions and strength are divinely guided and rooted in the concept of love. We've had our share of broken hearts in one form or another, but it is still love that gets us through these situations. Think of it as a form of claircognizance that exists between generations of Fojas womyn. It's about remembering who you are and where you come from.
I hope that one day, I'll be able to pass on their stories and say these very same words to my own daughter(s): "Of course, anak. It's because you're a Fojas womyn."
No comments:
Post a Comment