tanay club

The fiance and I attended the 80th anniversary of the Tanay Club. The Tanay Club along with Bohol Circle is one of the oldest Filipino town associations in the country still in existence today. They began in 1924. D's family is from Tanay. We attend their annual Padasal during Holy Week, so we're adopted Tanayans, since neither the fiance nor I are from there.

D and Flux were quite cute in their matching purple Filipiniana. The fiance and I were decked out in our Filipiniana wear but with the standard off white color. Lots of barong watching: matching orange outfits, embroidery throughout the shirt, etc.

Heading into the hall of the hotel, I see Liz M., from UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies, standing there. I think she was surprised to see me there as well. She was waiting for her husband who was parking the car. Liz is retired now and I only run into her now and then. She's not from Tanay either, but she knows folks from back in the day. I mean, the woman remembers when Union City was three different towns and how it was a flood plain where you'd go pick vegetables for work. Liz, of course, had her trusty video camera, forever documenting every Filipino event she attends. Always good to see Liz.

We sat through a short video of Filipino American history with pictures of the Tanay club over the years. Their basketball and baseball clubs, their annual dinners. They listed the names of the dozen men who started the Tanay Club in 1924. As with most township clubs, they were more a form of social service. A way for immigrants to bond and network and help each other out.

The mayor of Tanay gave a speech about the festivities for the upcoming 400th year anniversary of the town, with the standard we hope to see you all there along with plea for fundraising.

We were some of the youngest people there. Like many township organizations, they rely on immigrant populations as its base. Their children rarely join on their own. I think part of it, speaking as a child of immigrants, is not that we're not interested in Filipino culture. I don't think we're that interested in a specific township. You see Fil-Ams gravitate towards general Filipino associations rather than hometown associations. In that sense, though the Tanay Club has lasted this long, it also may be seeing the end of its days. With so many Filipinos around, there are so many bonds and associations forming that something like Tanay Club is hard pressed to hang onto a constituency.

I guess we were kind of odd hanging out at a township association dinner for a town we've never gone to. My family is a part of the Malasiquenians, but I don't go to their meetings and I'm not sure what else they do other than the annual dinner. Then again, every family party might as well be a meeting of the Malasiquenians. Even with my cousins who are my age and immigrated her, you see a waning interest in the township association. They have stronger bonds with their church groups.

The DJ was pretty bad when he had to switch songs. He spent most of his time letting his pretaped party jams go on. We didn't win the round trip to the Philippines nor the 50 lb bag of rice, but the fiance did win a CD containing pictures of the town that the guy in the back was selling for $20 each.

We will probably attend their padasal again next year. And we may eventually go and see this town. But there is something about going to Tanay Club functions that does feel like you're going home.