My Guest Blogger today is Jean Vengua, a writer, artist, and co-chair of the Asian Cultural Experience (ACE) of Salinas Chinatown. Thank you, Jean for sharing this wonderful account about your mother! ~ Cecilia
Trinidad Vengua Muse 1940/JVengua Collection
The Muse Within
Jean Vengua
I grew up amid piles of glistening satin, sequins, brocade
fabric, and sewing notions. My mother, Trinidad (Trining), was, among other
things, a seamstress. She was also what one might describe as a “social,
fun-loving” person, who did not like to dwell on life’s dark moments. When they
came, her denial, and her sewing skills, made everything beautiful again.
Perhaps her interest in sewing and fashion provided a way to
escape her humble origins in a small rural town, Iba, Zambales. I’ve read that,
during the Philippine-American war, the crops in Zambales were demolished,
leaving much of the population on the brink of starvation. As a child, Trining
developed beriberi—caused by a nutritional deficit. There were other family difficulties,
too: a philandering father who later became “absent,” leaving my grandmother to
fend for herself and four kids by running a farm and selling vegetables; as the
oldest child, Trining helped her mother harvest crops, and was responsible for
watching over her younger siblings, which she sometimes found taxing. You’d
think such a life would produce a cynical, or at least practical-minded
daughter. But a couple of events occurred that I think set my mother’s compass,
more or less permanently, and sometimes a bit naively, towards “optimistic.”
First, her aunt won the Irish Sweepstakes; and since she was
generous, that meant lots of clothes and shopping trips for nephews and nieces.
It also meant that the kids got help with college tuition. Trining was able to
get a degree in dressmaking from Centro Escolar University; later, she was able
to set up her own beauty salon in Manila.
The second big event that shaped Trining’s outlook was when
she was elected the first Muse of the Philippine Beauty and Fashion Carnival in
1940. I heard about this joyous event so
often during my life that I knew it had to have been pivotal, even
life-changing. Its power seemed to reach out and touch my aunt, Leonarda
(Dading), because a few years later, she
was crowned queen, too. When I last visited Aunt Dading, she had a huge
portrait of herself in her queen regalia, placed in a prominent spot above the
family’s living room couch.
Trinidad Vengua 1930s/JVengua Collection
Business at the beauty salon had been good. But World War II
and the Japanese occupation put a damper on things, to say the least. The salon
had to be closed. The family lost its land and natural resources to the
conquerors. Some of the family suffered terribly. One brother came close to
being executed by the Japanese as a guerrilla; ironically, he was saved by a
Japanese friend. Somehow, the family survived the war intact. Trining met my
father, Nick, when he was visiting the rubble that was left of Manila. They
fell in love, got married, and he took her back to the U.S. Despite the odds,
mom’s optimism seemed to have won the day.
She brought her considerable dressmaking skills with her to
California, where she sewed many dresses for myself and her friends, including gowns
for queen candidates. And the queenly influence didn’t stop there; when I came
of age in the U.S., she talked me into running for lodge queen (Caballeros de
Dimas-Alang). I won, and was crowned in a big ceremony at the Roosevelt Hotel
in Hollywood. Although I had difficulty understanding what all the fuss was about
(it was the 1960s; I would soon turn into a poncho-wearing hippie), my mother
was overjoyed.
In the U.S., Trining no longer had the support of her
extended Philippine family; she missed that. She was far across the sea from
them, and Nick—who was in the merchant marines—was home only several months out
of each year. Her optimism continued on, but sometimes—when she worked the
grueling night shift in the cannery, or later in the hospital laundry—it seemed
more like grim determination. Still, when I look back on her life, I’m glad she
was accompanied by those happy memories. She had discovered the queen within,
and held onto that with all her might.
~~
Read also
The Bachelors and Femina Days of Cebu - Memorabilia photos
Fascinating Faces of the World
Four Generations of Filipina Women
Philippine Pre-Hispanic Gold Jewelry
Mother Goddess Figures: Food for Thought
Fascinating Faces of the World
Four Generations of Filipina Women
Philippine Pre-Hispanic Gold Jewelry
Mother Goddess Figures: Food for Thought
Tags: Philippines, beauty queen, carnival queen, Filipina, women, Filipino American, Jean Vengua, Trinidad Vengua
This is all for now,
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