Pasabog before Christmas

We received a basket just before Christmas. It wasn’t a Christmas basket, although it certainly felt like Christmas when we opened it.

It was a basket given by a soon-to-be-married couple to my husband, who they had asked to be their ninong or principal sponsor.

I was floored by the contents: a kilo of grapes, a bunch of bananas, four apples, four oranges, one dozen of plain suman, one dozen of suman sa lihiya, two big round pieces of kalamay, two containers of leche flan and a bottle of wine. The basket was also accompanied by one big chocolate cake.

The giving of sabit to the principal sponsors
is still being observed in Batangas. 

The offering or sabit from the couple is part of a wedding tradition still being observed in some parts of Batangas. The food and drink that make up the sabit is carefully chosen. Sticky rice as represented by the selection of suman and kalamay bodes well for the union to stick through the years. Sweetness as represented by the cake, leche flan, etc. is supposed to mark the partnership. Wine, I suppose, is given so that the marriage gets better with age. I do not know what the fresh fruits symbolize.

I’d already heard stories about how extensive (and expensive) weddings can be in Batangas because of their traditions and beliefs, but I was still amazed to experience it firsthand. Amused by my amazement, the groom told me that they had even scaled down the sabit by not including kilos of fresh (yes fresh) meat.

I think the sabit is a prerequisite to the sabog or sabugan, which is an activity that is part of the wedding reception. I am told that sometimes, the sabugan is done during the bisperas, the eve of the wedding, when an entourage consisting of the groom’s parents, relatives, abays (secondary sponsors), ninangs and ninongs, and others concerned with the wedding walk in a procession from the groom’s house to the bride’s house where the wedding reception is traditionally held.

The purpose of this journey is to deliver all the ingredients to be used in preparation of the wedding feast. Everything from the cows and chickens, to the vegetables and rice, down to the condiments and the cutlery are carried in the procession. Upon arrival at the bride’s house, refreshments are served before the group starts working on the preparations for the wedding reception.

In our couple’s case, I do not think they held a bisperas since they had elected to have the reception held at a commercial venue, and not at the bride’s house according to tradition. Thus, they did away with a party of family members doing the cooking at the bride’s home since they opted to leave the food preparations to a professional caterer.

We were unable to attend the wedding since we were in Cebu at the time so I wonder if the couple held the sabugan during the reception.

Sabugan is the part where principal sponsors (ninong/ninang), parents, siblings, relatives, friends and guests of the newlywed are called to give cash gifts or sabog. In turn, female givers receive native delicacies like kalamay, suman or puto which are called sabit while male givers are asked to drink a small glass of wine. The sabugan is seen as an opportunity to shower the newlywed couple with monetary gifts to help them start a new family. The amount given is announced over the microphone by a relative of the couple.

Since the couple had observed the tradition of giving sabit to their ninongs and ninangs before the wedding, I think they were constrained to follow through with a sabugan during the reception. That would have been interesting to watch.