THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

Analysis

The author Nick Joaquin manifests feminism, cultural and autobiographical

approaches in the story of The Summer Solstice. It has five main characters. The
dynamic type was Doña Lupeng, Don Paeng, Entoy, and Amada, and Guido was
the static type of character. The story takes place in the 1850s during the
celebration of Festival days of St. John.
Moreta family is spending the St. John’s day with the children’s grandfather.
Doña Lupeng was checking on Amada, their maid and the battered wife of Entoy.
It was that morning after she headed the procession of the Tadtarin ritual, she was
acting strangely. Entoy believes that the spirit of St. John is in his wife. If he beats
or touches his wife, grains would not grow, the trees would bear no fruit, the rivers
would give no fish and the animals would die. Meanwhile, the Moretas were
witnessing the people wetting each other and shouting San Juan! San Juan! Guido,
the young cousin of Don Paeng, was also taking part in the celebration. Doña
Lupeng and Guido had a conversation. He was continuously describing the beauty
of women, adoring, and praising them intensely. Although Doña Lupeng was a
married woman, Guido adores her as a beautiful woman. When Doña Lupeng was
about to leave, he implored her not to go. He immediately crawls to the ground and
kisses the tip of her shoes. Don Paeng was furious the moment he heard about this
on Doña Lupeng because it is impolite to adore a woman. He believes that
gentlemen should love and respect women.
When they arrived back in their home, Doña Lupeng had a sudden change of
mind. She wanted to watch the Tadtarin ritual. Since only low people watch the
ritual, Don Paeng opposed her idea. However, Doña Lupeng was looking young
and so fragile and it touched the heart of Don Paeng. He losses over the loving
look of Doña Lupeng and went together to see the Tadtarin. Some women were
prancing, screaming, and writhing on the street while the calm old woman came
amid the female tumult with wand and seedling on her hands. The flash of
lightning blazed and everyone went silent. It means that the Tadtarin was about to
die. Don Paeng was horrified and wanted to take her wife away. But she insisted to
stay and watched greedily, taut, and breathless. The Tadtarin get up on her feet and
extended the wand and the seedlings. Then everybody broke away while dancing
and singing with joy in the orgy. Doña Lupeng who’s overflowing with enjoyment
joined the crowd of dancing women. Don Paeng couldn’t grasp her. Don Paeng
followed his wife but he lost her. He found himself inside the chapel surrounded by
female bodies. He was beaten while going out of the chapel and went back to the
coach. Doña Lupeng smiled coolly with the sight of his bruised face and torn
clothing. He was furious when they arrived home, and Doña Lupeng was calm and
light-hearted. Since Doña Lupeng behaved like a lewd woman that night, Don
Paeng wanted to give his wife a whipping as a punishment. Doña Lupeng insisted
that what he wanted is not to punish her but to make her pay for his bruises. Don
Paeng lost in their fight again, admitting that he adores Doña Lupeng. He worships
his wife and everything about her wife is so holy to him. He is her slave, yet it was
not enough for Doña Lupeng. She cried and command Don Paeng to crawl on the
floor and kiss her feet. Don Paeng does what he was told like a helpless dog who
follows orders from his master.
Throughout the story the women characters dominate which shows the
manifestation of feminism approach. This approach is concerned with "the ways in
which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the
economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson,
2006). Amada was a battered wife. But her husband did not beat her anymore after
she leads the procession of the Tadtarin ritual. Entoy believes that the spirit of St.
John possessed his wife Amada so he does not dare to beat or touch her anymore.
Furthermore, Guido described Amada as a beautiful Tadtarin despite her
appearance when he followed the parade of Tadtarin that night where Amada
leads. Meanwhile, Doña Lupeng was a woman who was loved and adored by her
surrounding people. Guido should supposedly respect her as a married woman but
acted like she’s a maiden. He kissed the tip of the shoe of Doña Lupeng to show
that he adores her instead. On the other hand, her husband Don Paeng does not like
men who adore women though he ended up crawling on the floor then kissed the
toe of Doña Lupeng. The story uncovers the true power of women over men.
Women could also have authority while the men had no other choice but to follow.
It seems that men cannot resist a woman who makes them feel more like a man.
Even in the ritual, the women have the upper hand. Men take active part only when
they are dressed like a woman. But the ending of the story earned a lot of debate
between critics. They argued that during those time women should be submissive
and men should have authority. However, Nick Joaquin centers the story on the
strengths of women against men.
 There is also a manifestation of cultural approach. “This a form of criticism
examines how different religions, ethnicities, class identifications, political beliefs,
and views affect the ways in which texts are created and interpreted” (White Plains
Public Schools, 2011). The story shows the celebration San Juan Festival on the
23rd day of June to honor St. John the Baptist and to welcome the summer season.
this celebration was an influenced from the Spanish colonization. During this time,
it is the shortest night of the year which is called summer solstice. People are
gathering to execute rituals and other beliefs during the festival. It is also part of
the practice of the Filipino people when celebrating St. John’s Day to throw water
at each other, swimming in the sea or in the river. The title of the story is “The
Summer Solstice” because it focuses on the celebration of San Juan that is done
during the shortest night of the year.
The last approach that manifests in this story is the biographical approach.
Biographical criticism uses details about an author’s personal life to analyze the
author’s works. This story touches the life of Nick Joaquin like how the Joaquin
Family live an honorable and comfortable life like the Moretas Family in the story.
During his time, the rituals are commonly practiced by the people. They were
dancing, singing and sometimes they even do a role play for their ritual. This is
how most people pray during those times. But it is different now especially in
urban areas where people are silently praying inside the church. While his mission
as a writer was being a sort of “culture apostle” and the goals of his literary works
are to revive interest in the Philippine national life through literature and inspire
people to understand our cultural background. This story is one of the
achievements of his goals. It shows every details about how Filipino people were
gathered and enjoy the celebration of San Juan festival. This literary piece
preserves the culture of the Filipino people.
However, it is very unfortunate for this year’s celebration of San Juan
festival because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. This virus is hindering us to pull off
any mass gathering. We are forced to stay at home to keep ourselves safe, to be
distant even though we’re friends, to sacrifice some people just to keep everyone
safe and to be tormented even if we’re just living a normal life. Fighting against
this invisible enemy that takes people without goodbye is the hardest and deadliest
war. This is not just a fight against health but a fight against humanity. I guess we
are being punished from above. In this story, the people before we’re celebrating
each festival with honor and respect to the saint. They show their prayers in rituals
either through dancing, singing or role plays and most people participate. But it
changes as the way of living of humanity evolves. Rituals are not present anymore
in urban areas. People may think that its uncool but for the ethnic people, it is their
way of speaking to their God.
In this COVID-19 pandemic, the things that are usually not part of our
lifestyle will become our new normal. We may not want it but we need to do it.
Like social distancing, wearing of masks, shopping and buying groceries through
online, temperature check every time we enter a private or public place,
prioritizing alcohol and sanitizers than make-ups and anything that are beyond
normal. The greatest effect of this COVID-19 Pandemic is making spaces between
people.

BELINDA G. MANITO BSA-1

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Retrieved from
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