SOUVENIRS

VELADA -- I have used this word countless times in my life, and yet don’t really know exactly what it means. Finally, looking it up online in the Spanish-English dictionary, I came up with some terms:

velada: veiled; evening reunion; soiree

From that, one can surmise that the velada was probably originally a “secret”, such that the show was to be a surprise to the audience on Old Girls Day. Maybe it was even held later in the day, like late afternoon or early evening. And indeed, most shows are kept well under wraps by Jubilarians, in order to present a delightful surprise show for the rest of the alumnae. My mother, and her mother before her have been annual attendees of Old Girls Day for decades. I suspect my lola took me along as a child but I have no memory of it, other than this picture. So I have attended just one Old Girls Day that I remember: my mother’s own Silver Jubilee in 1982, when most of us were in 2nd Year College.

Since I moved to the States 21 years ago, my mom comes to visit every year, arriving around the third week of November. This means that Old Girls Day at the end of October is still fresh in her mind. I usually get a review of the velada, especially if it was particularly spectacular or special, or if one of my various aunts was a jubilarian. Most of all, every November, I get a velada souvenir, whatever it was that was being given away or for sale at the last Old Girls Day, plus the souvenir program if it was particularly interesting or significant. Good ol’ mom, never fails to bring me something. One year, she even brought me a box of still fresh Assumption tarts plus guava jelly in a really cute Assumption lunchbox! Here are a few of the souvenirs I have gotten through the years. I wonder what our velada souvenir will be?