A Celebration, Island Style
Marielle Hannah Lagaspi was baptized at St. John’s a few weeks ago, with her proud parents Wendy and Richard beaming. I understand that Marielle was a long time coming, her parents couldn’t be happier, and neither could the parish. I’ve been through enough baptisms so that the thrill has sort of worn off -- maybe working at a Cathedral, as I did, does that to you -- though I still get a real kick out of adult baptisms. Marielle, who’s all of three months old, didn’t pay a lot of attention to her momentous day, other than to fuss a little bit when out vicar Father Rich poured holy water on her forehead. I would fuss too.
The baptism was standard stuff, but the reception was not. I was expecting cake and coffee in the parish hall, thinking that this is what you would do. (More to the point, it's what I would do.) Episcopal baptisms are never private affairs, but part of a service, as indeed that should be, so that the entire congregation is there; and we normally meet after services for fellowship. But Richard and Wendy had sent out invitations for a luncheon at the Okura Hotel, one of the more posh Japanese hotels on island, and I hadn’t been there yet.
Well, the spread was astonishing. What I assumed would be a light lunch for the parish was a sit-down luncheon for 200 guests in one of the ballrooms. This is how baptisms are done on island, apparently. And the food! All the usual suspects, plus: amazingly good sashimi, plus poki (the Hawai‘ian version of sushi, which I hadn’t had yet, and it is seriously tasty). Shrimp galore, salads innumerable. Pans and pans of pancit. Pasta primavera. An entire roast pig. Dessert stations with cakes, ice cream, puddings. Roast beef, roast pork, roast chicken. Coffee, tea. Equally unbelievable was the view; the Okura is situated on the far end of Tumon Bay, and from there you can see all the way to Big Navy. It’s a panoramic view of the bay framed by floor-to-ceiling windows that are twelve feet tall. The weather was perfect, naturally, so the view was spectacular.
The luncheon was followed by lots of fellowship, general meeting and greeting, and a raffle, though the correct term here would be “door prizes.” I will write in a separate entry on the (to me) peculiar tradition of door prizes being attached to all events here, and the prizes started out small (boxes of chocolates) and got bigger and better (cell phones, DVD players). All in all, we welcomed Marielle into the family in the proper island way: enough food for the Warsaw Pact and prizes to boot.
Baptisms obviously have an importance here that they don’t necessarily have Stateside. In part, I would guess it’s the strong Catholic presence on island, though if I recall correctly, baptisms in the Catholic Church aren’t necessarily public affairs. People take hospitality here very seriously, I think because of the remoteness of islands out here; if someone lands on your beach, he’s likely to be hungry, and you really ought to feed him. For whatever reasons, Guam is blessed with a culture that decides that all events need to be turned into parties, and it is one of the great pleasures of the place.
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