Not a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.
-Valentine a poem by Carol Ann Duffy

Scientific name, Allium Cepa, Onions had been very helpful in my teaching of Mitosis or Cell Division. In the close examination of the Onion Tip we can see how Cell Divides and in a nut shell how life unfolds. In mitosis, the nucleus of the Eukaryotic cells divides into two, subsequently resulting in the splitting of the parent cells into two daughter cells. Hence, every cell division involves two chief stages: Cytokinesis – Cytoplasm division, Karyokinesis – Nucleus division.

Cell division ultimately illustrates growth, reproduction and even demise . All these , in stages are viewable on the Microscope in the tip of Onion Roots.

In the Economic View, the Onion is a go to meme of sorts. Onion had metamorphosized into the sad reality of our economic fragile state and the underlying inability to enforce laws. By late 2022, the price of red and white onions in the Philippines increased significantly, reaching an all-time high in December at P700 per kilogram and leading people to smuggle the commodity into the country.

The high price is real and not imagined. It cost more than Meat and it drives its growers to commit suicide. In news story that runs in Manila Bulletin penned by Mario Casayuran published last Janaury 16, 2023 the title say it more poignantly, DA SLAMMED FOR DRIVING ONION FARMERS TO FINANCIAL RUIN, SUICIDE. Citing the news story in the second paragraph it reads Onions are left to rot on the fields or thrown at canals as farmers face financial ruin because their onions are being bought from P6 to P15 a kilos, a sure-fire way to ruin of their investments. Rommel Calingasan, Municipal Agriculturist of San Jose Occidental Mindoro said emphatically, You are Killing Us.

To date the reality of an economic bind is obvious. The LPG had recently risen to an unprecedented increase of P10 /kilo and the Fare had slowly yet surely came to a higher threshold. And all these economic downturn is obvious and perceptible even to the rabidly loyal folks who deny the realities of hardships because of their political beliefs.

The sad truth comes as a cold water bath, times are hard. Even the hopeless romantic knew that the Onion Barometer is a reality in the Valentines day, its price makes him think twice, should I be lavish in my roses or lavish just in praise?

This time around, in the hope of getting her love, give her an Onion, its expensive and it may not be shiny but it is a symbol of affluence. Its not cute like the Song Telegram nor the usual Harana, but it is symbolic, real love is expensive.

-Valentine a poem by Carol Ann Duffy says about Onions as gifts;
Take it.

Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring, if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers.

In my last column, I gave you samples of those indigenous toys that our children loved to play with before the advent of gadgets. Let me give you more, hoping to have these included should they be reintroduced for our children to play again.

Manog-banog is the local name for kite in English. But what makes it different is that this toy was homemade, not bought in toy stores. In cities and urban areas, children play with this especially during summertime when it’s dry season and windy as well. But again, their kites are commercial ones, bought from the stores and manufactured for mass production by certain companies. In rural areas, a kite is made, usually by children themselves. They use thin bamboo sticks and fashion them into a kite skeleton, which they later wrap in thin plastic material. Tied to a thin, long thread, they throw this toy into the air for it to fly.

If manog-banog is made to fly in the air, this next toy is made to float on water. They call it baru-baluto, a miniature banca. But this one is not necessarily made; it’s already shaped like a toy boat. It’s the sturdy covering of the coco fruits when these are still young and just emerging in between the hard, base part of coconut leaves. Children don’t need to cut it from the coconut stem, because, under the coconut trees, there are so many of these—dried already and one simply needs to detach it from other dead parts. It floats on water, and what a good indigenous toy it is.

The elongated part of the coconut leaves from which the long blades come out is called paklang in the vernacular. The base of it, when cut from the rest of the leaves, say, three feet from the base, is an excellent native toy called padaruosan. Its seeming head is large and wide enough, and when placed on the ground, it kind of stands like a cobra. A child can sit on its back, and although it doesn’t move by itself, it makes a good sliding vehicle when placed on a slanting hill. A child can sit on it and glide downhill for an exciting ride. But the ground has to be covered with carabao grasses or pure dry soil, no rocks. Or else, the kids could end up with cuts and wounds.

Another thing that people in the hinterlands fashion into a native toy is called kasing, shaped like a heart (kasing-kasing in the vernacular). It is made of wood. At the base of it, they attach a nail or small piece of tie wire. A little above the pointed base, they create a stopper for the piece of rope that coils around it. This tiny rope is made to coil higher until it reaches the biggest, round top. The other end of the rope is attached to the player’s finger. The player smashes this toy suddenly to the ground then, when it lands on the ground, it starts to spin around while standing on its metallic tip. It takes sometimes minutes before it stops. While spinning around, it also tends to like stroll here and there until it finally stops. One can play with it alone and enjoy its beauty and sight.

Out of several varieties of bamboo, more native toys were made. There is kadang, two bamboo poles with stepping slabs on them, which players can use to walk around at an elevated height. And then there is that musil-pusil, made of small bamboo branches, with crumpled wet papers for bullets. Bow and arrow locally known as pana were also made of bamboo slabs.

Indeed, indigenous toys that people made were numerous. I just mentioned a few of them. If only they are revived and reintroduced to our kids, especially as a requirement in schools, there is no doubt that they will enjoy playing with them, their attention diverted from gadget addiction.