“WEDDING DANCE”

PERIOD OR YEAR IT WAS

WRITTEN
 The story was written by Amador Daguio
in 1952 and was published in 1953 by
Standford University in an annual
publication of works by participants in
their literary programs.
 BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Mr. Amador T. Daguio was a teacher, poet, and novelist during the pre-war,e was
best known for his fictions and poems. He had published two volumes of poetry,
“Bataan Harvest” and “The Flaming Lyre”. He served as chief editor for the
Philippine House of Representatives before he died in 1996. Daguio was born 8
January 1912 in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, but grew up in Lubuagan, Mountain Province.
He was class valedictorian in 1924 at the Lubuagan Elementary School. Then he
stayed with his uncle at the Fort William McKinley to study at the Rizal High
School in Pasig City.
Summa
ryThe story of the “Wedding Dance” focuses to the story
of a couple named Awiyao and Lumnay. They were
married for a long time but Awiayo the husband of
Lumnay has to marry another girl named Madulimay,
because Lumnay cannot bear a child. On the night of the
wedding of Awiyao and Madulimay, Awiyao went to his
and Lumnay’s house where they used to live personally
invite his ex-wife to join the dance. However, Lumnay
refused to join. They had a talk about their separation
and during their conversation they found out that the
couple still had feelings for each other.
Summa
ryThey still love each other but they need to separate,
because their tribe’s custom is – every man in that tribe
should have one or more child that could carry his name
and if his wife cannot give him a child, he can marry
another woman which is Madulimay since it’s a man’s
necessity to have a child. Lumnay can hardly let go of
her husband. The two both agreed that if Awiyao’s
second marriage did not work, he will go back to
Lumnay’s arms and this was sealed by the beads that
Lumnay will keep. Then Awiyao goes back to the
wedding because someone is calling him already.
Summa
ryAfter being fetched by others. Lumnay decided to go to
the wedding. She decided to break the unwritten law of
her tribe, but when the time she’s near all her guts to stop
the wedding suddenly disappeared. She did not have the
courage to break into the wedding feast. Lumnay walked
away from the dancing ground and away from the
village. Then, she went to a mountain instead and she
diverted all her bitterness in her and she partly reminisce
their story of Awiyao.
Theme
We’ve chose “sacrificial love” as one of the themes for
the story of “Wedding Dance”, because according to
the story of “Wedding Dance” Awiyao really loved
Lumnay wherein Lumnay sacrificed many things such
as chickens, prayers to Kabunyan, and her pride for her
husband Amiyao since Amiyao wants to have a child,
because Lumnay can’t bear a child. Amiyao said that
life is worthless if he doesn’t have a child, therefore
even though Lumnay feels pain still she chose to let go
of Amiyao to marry another girl in order to have a
child and for Amiyao to be happy.
The
• Another theme that we’ve observed for the story of the “Wedding Dance” is
the theme of the “Importance of Family”, because in the story of the
me“Wedding Dance” Awiyao really wants to have a child. Awiyao and Lumnay
sacrificed many things and waited for seven years to have a child but they
didn’t have the chance to have a child. However, even though they don’t have
a child but still Awiyao is doing all the things to be with her wife. This shows
that, the characters in the story are showing the value of the importance of the
family since in reality if a couple doesn’t have a child or can’t conceive
children then it will lead to loneliness and maybe separation of the couple.

• Our group also observed that the story of the “Wedding Dance” may be have
a theme of Loneliness. In the story of the “Wedding Dance” the characters
which are Awiyao and Lumnay shows love at the first place but as they
approaching to the end of the story, there’s loneliness between the two
character like in the part wherein Awiyao is lonely since his wife which is
Lumnay can’t give him a child. Another one that shows loneliness in the story
is in the part wherein Lumnay let go of her husband in order to marry a new
woman for Awiyao to have a child which is very painful for the part of
Lumnay since she loved Awiyao.
Them
• Betrayal is another theme that our group observed

e that may be indicated in the story of the “Wedding

Dance” since Awiyao is married to Lumnay but he
chose to marry another woman in order to have a
child. Even though her wife loves her and do
sacrifices for him, still he chose his own happiness
rather than his wife and based in the story, there are
some lines that Awiyao is always saying that he loves
his wife but at the end he marries another woman
which symbolizes being unfaithful or betrayal to
Lumnay. That’s why we’ve chose the Betrayal as one
of the themes for the story.
 Literary and Poetic
Devices
First of all, Poetic devices are a variant of literary
devices used in poetry to convey the poet’s intention
while the Figure of speech is a departure from normal
word usage in order to increase the effectiveness of
the words. In the story of the “Wedding Dance” by
Amador T. Daguio, some of the figures of speech and
poetic devices that are used in the story are the
Onomatopoeia, Hyperbole, Personification, Metaphor,
Imagery, Anaphora, and simile.
Literary and Poetic Devices
• When we say Onomatopoeia, it refers to the
creation of words that phonetically imitates,
resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes.
In the story, the words or phrases like “The sound
of the gangsas beat through the walls of the dark
house like muffled roars of falling waters”, “The
spark rose through the crackles of the flames”,
“The waters boiled in her mind in forms of white
and jade and roaring silver; the waters tolled and
growled, resounded in thunderous echoes through
the walls of the stiff cliffs” are examples of
Onomatopoeia in the story.
Literary and Poetic Devices
•
Hyperbole is a type of figure of speech that
there’s an exaggerated statement or claims not meant to
be taken literally. Based on the story, the phrase “She
bit her lips now, then shook her head wildly, and
sobbed” is an example of Hyperbole.
Literary and Poetic Devices
•
Personification- is a figure of speech in which an idea
or thing is given human attributes and/or feelings or is spoken of
as if it were human. Personification is the like metaphor but
human characteristics are attributed to non-human things. In the
story, the phrases“After some moments during which he seemed
to wait, he talked to the listening darkness”, and “The voice was
a shudder” are the examples of personification within the story.
Literary and Poetic Devices
•
Simile is a figure of speech wherein it compares two different things
using the words “like” or “as”. Its purpose is to help describe one thing by
comparing it to another thing that is perhaps seemingly unrelated. In the
story, there are some phrases that are examples of simile such as the phrases
“Can never become as good as you are. She is not as strong in planting beans,
not as fast in cleaning water jars, not as good keeping a house clean”. As you
can see, there’s a word that is used to compare which is the “as” wherein
Awiyao is comparing Lumany from Madulimay.
Literary and Poetic Devices
•
Metaphor is another type of figure of speech that pulls
comparisons between two unrelated ideas like for example “life is a highway”
and “her eyes were diamonds”. In the story of the “Wedding Dance”, some of
the metaphors are the phrases “Seven harvests is just too long to wait” and
“Her face was in agony”. Those examples mentioned earlier are being
compared directly and the words “like” or “as” were not used to compare the
unrelated ideas unlike to the case of Simile that “like” or “as” words are used
in order to compare the ideas.
 Literary and Poetic Devices
• The story of “Wedding Dance” also have imagery a poetic device
that stimulates the reader’s senses. By evoking those senses through
touch, taste, sound, smell, and sight, the writer imparts a deeper
understanding of the human experience, connecting with the reader
through a shared sensory experience. The types of imagery are the
Visual imagery, Auditory imagery, Tactile imagery, Olfactory
imagery, Gustatory imagery, Kinesthetic imagery, and Organic
imagery. “She looked at him lovingly. She almost seemed to smile”
and “She bit her lips now, then shook her head wildly, and sobbed”
are one of the phrases in the story that are an example of Visual
imagery, because we readers can sense of having pictures in mind
or we can imagine in our mind the meaning of the phrase that was
mentioned.
 Literary and Poetic Devic
• Another type of imagery that was used in the
story is the tactile imagery wherein there’s a
sentence “She would be holding the bean flowers,
soft in the texture, silken almost, but moist where
the dew got into them, silver to look at, silver on
the light blue, blooming whiteness, when the
morning comes” that describes to the reader that
the character in the story is using sense of touch.
 Literary and Poetic Devices
• Next is the auditory imagery, wherein there’s a
use of sense of hearing like in the phrase in the
story “The gongs thundered through the walls
of their house, sonorous and far away”.
Wherein we readers can imagine the sound of
the gongs, because the writer stated that the
gongs thundered through the walls.
 Literary and Poetic Device
• Another type of figure of speech that our group
observed in the story is the Anaphora wherein
the words are repeated at the beginning of
successive clauses, phrases, or sentences. In the
story, the phrase “I don’t care about the fields,"
she said. "I don't care about the house. I don't
care for anything but you” are an example of
Anaphora, because as you can see the word “I
don’t care” is being repeated in each sentence.
Cite three lines that you will always remember
from the story and relate this in real life.

1.) "I don't want any man," she said

sharply. "I don't want any other man."
Cite three lines that you will always remember
from the story and relate this in real life.

2. "If I fail," he said, "I'll come back to you.

Then both of us will die together. Both of us
will vanish from the life of our tribe."
Cite three lines that you will always remember
from the story and relate this in real life.

3. "I don't care about the fields," she said. "I

don't care about the house. I don't care for
anything but you. I'll have no other man."
References:
• https://examples.yourdictionary.com/figure-of-
speech-examples.html
• https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-s
imile#quiz-0
• http://www.seasite.niu.edu/tagalog/literature/s
hort%20stories/wedding%20dance.htm
• https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and
-terms/anaphora#:~:text=Anaphora%20is%20