First of May

May 1st in the Philippines where I grew up, is Labor Day. It is a holiday that honors the regular Filipino workers and laborers. (Labor Day here in the United Sates is observed on the first Monday of September.)

From what I remember when I was young, protests and rallies usually happens on this day, as labor groups and activists march in major cites, especially in Manila to demand wage increases, job security and better working conditions. These rallies many times become violent and chaotic. I believe this protests still happens even up to our current time.

But there is something that I can relate more when May 1 comes, and it is not about rallies nor activism, but about an old song that starts like this:

“When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall.”

It is a song titled “First of May” by the Bee Gees. It is a nostalgic ballad about the passage of time, lost innocence, and enduring love, symbolized by childhood memories and changing seasons. Somehow this song resonates to me still.

Even though I did not grow up in a home that have tall Christmas trees, it did not stop me from singing this song. In fact we don’t even have a small Christmas tree for that matter. But we were once small, all right.

I remember when we were still in grade school, one of my classmates brought a “Jingle Song Hits,” an iconic small magazine, that contain songs with guitar chords on it, which was very popular in the 1970’s. This particular Jingle Song Hits have the Bee Gees songs, including the song “First of May.” That was the first time I read the lyrics of this song, and it stayed with me ever since.

Many May 1st have passed, and I have grown taller, but now we have Christmas tree in our home that are also taller. But I’m missing those days, when I was still small. Certainly, “the time has passed us by.”

Please indulge me, as I reminisce on this nostalgic song, which ends like this:

“But guess we’ll cry come first of May.”