Here's two more pictures of me and my younger daughter. These are taken when we attended a wedding in Angeles City, Pampanga. I was one of the "ninangs", a Filipino word that means a female primary sponsor in a wedding or child christening. Filipino weddings often begin late than the announced time of start and ceremonies often consume a lot of time because of speeches, songs, and presentations among other things. But the atmosphere is one of joy and pleasure as Filipinos love doing weddings this way.



A typical Filipino wedding would have 20 to 30 primary sponsors, 16 - 20 secondary sponsors, and a whole army of relatives are often present on both the bride and the bridegroom's side. The processional march alone takes time and the programs after the ceremony are always too numerous that guests often leave the occasion without finishing it.

This particular wedding we went to was supposed to begin at 2PM but started at 4PM. We left the place at 8PM while the program is not yet finish.

Hi reader...

My name is Maritess Ortinez and I am a Filipina. I've created this blog as a medium of showcasing my family online. I'll be posting photos, videos, and other things as well so that friends and relatives online can be updated as to how my family's doing...

To start off, here are some photos of us during the last All Saints Day 2007...





On the first picture, the woman in the pink and white striped t-shirt is me with two of my cousins standing next to me. The woman sitting below me is my mother. This place is my father's grave. Filipinos are somewhat fanatical when it comes to remembering their dead loved ones. We usually spend All Saints Day at the cemetery from 2:00 in the afternoon till 2:00 in the morning. We also usually bring foods and do have some kind of feast in the cemetery. The general atmosphere is somewhat more of a joyful celebration rather than a solemn one.

The next picture is me with my youngest daughter. She's trying to wear some kind of a Halloween mask and was trying to scare her smaller cousins. She end up getting scared herself when an unknown guy who was wearing another mask walked past by us.

I'll be posting more as soon as I can...