National Artist for Literature (1976)

(May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004)

“Before 1521 we could have been anything and everything not Filipino; after 1565 we can be nothing
but Filipino.” ― Culture and History, 1988

Nick Joaquin, is regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino writer in English writing so
variedly and so well about so many aspects of the Filipino. Nick Joaquin has also enriched the
English language with critics coining “Joaquinesque” to describe his baroque Spanish-flavored
English or his reinventions of English based on Filipinisms. Aside from his handling of language,
Bienvenido Lumbera writes that Nick Joaquin’s significance in Philippine literature involves his
exploration of the Philippine colonial past under Spain and his probing into the psychology of social
changes as seen by the young, as exemplified in stories such as Doña Jeronima, Candido’s
Apocalypse and The Order of Melchizedek. Nick Joaquin has written plays, novels, poems, short
stories and essays including reportage and journalism. As a journalist, Nick Joaquin uses the nome
de guerre Quijano de Manila but whether he is writing literature or journalism, fellow National Artist
Francisco Arcellana opines that “it is always of the highest skill and quality”.

Among his voluminous works are The Woman Who Had Two Navels, A Portrait of the Artist as
Filipino, Manila, My Manila: A History for the Young, The Ballad of the Five Battles, Rizal in
Saga, Almanac for Manileños, Cave and Shadows.

Nick Joaquin died April 29, 2004.

http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/national-artists-of-the-philippines/nick-joaquin/

Why did Nick Joaquin write “May Day Eve?”

"May Day Eve" is a short story written by Filipino National Artist Nick Joaquin. Written after World War
II, it became one of Joaquin's “signature stories” that became a classic in Philippine literature in
English. Together with Joaquin's other stories like The Mass of St. Sylvester, Doña
Jeronima and Candido’s Apocalypse, May Day Eve utilized the theme of "magic realism" long before
the genre was made a trend in Latin American novels. Published in 1947, it is a story originally
intended for adult readers, but has later become a required and important reading material
for Filipino students.

Plot Summary

As Don Badoy Montiya comes home to his old home at Intramuros, Manila late at night he finds his
grandson chanting an old spell in front of a mirror, memories of his youth came back. He recalled how
he fell in love with Agueda, a young woman who resisted his advances. Agueda learned that she
would be able to know her future husband by reciting an incantation in front of a mirror. As she recited
the words: “Mirror, mirror, show to me him whose woman I will be,” Agueda saw Badoy. Badoy and
Agueda got married. However, Don Badoy learned from his grandson that he was described by Doña
Agueda (through their daughter) as a "devil". In return, Don Badoy told his grandson that every time
he looks at the mirror, he only sees a "witch" (Agueda). Don Badoy ponders on love that had
dissipated. The truth was revealed, Badoy and Agueda had a “bitter marriage”, which began in the
past, during one evening in the month of May in 1847. The tragedy of the story is Badoy’s heart forgot
how he loved Agueda in the past. They were not able to mend their broken marriage because their
love was a “raging passion and nothing more”.
 Character Description
The major characters in May Day Eve are Badoy, Agueda, Anastasia, Agueda's daughter, and
Badoy's grandson. Agueda and Badoy have different personalities. Agueda was described to be a
bold, liberated, and a non-conformist young woman who was “ahead of her time”. While Badoy was
characterized in the beginning as a promiscuous young manwho wanted to prove his machismo, he
realized that he was “deliriously in love” with Agueda.
Another summary of the story

In the late 1840’s, when it was already May Eve they said that the dancing should stop at 10 o’clock
in the evening. Until the celebration was over, the guests started to decamp but the girls just went to
their bedroom while the boys just continued what they are doing and finished their drink.

Then there was this woman named Anastasia, who used to tell stories about witches and that made
all the girls afraid. Anastasia instructed Agueda how to do the ritual involving the mirror. As Agueda
knew what she will do, she went to the mirror in their sala and said “Mirror, Mirror, show to me him
whose woman I will be.” Unfortunately, she saw a devil. And it was a guy named Don Badoy, he was
in loved with Agueda.

Recently, it was their marriage; until they had a daughter. Agueda told the story to her daughter and
she warned her to never admire herself in the mirror or else she will see something frightening. After
that, Agueda started comparing the devil to Don Badoy then her stories continued.

Don Badoy, has his grandson named Voltaire. Don Badoy caught his grandson doing the ritual in the
mirror. He also started telling his stories about him doing the ritual and said that he saw a witch.
Likely, he also warned this grandson to never do that again because he might see a witch. His stories
continued as he compared the witch to Agueda.

SETTING

The story happened in the year of 1847 at badoy's house and it has a little blend of horror and fiction
because of superstitious belief of fortune telling as well as the devil and witch that will come out in the
the mirror if everything in the ritual will go wrong, it continue until 1890.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

The story starts with a flashback of a May Day eve in the year 1847. There was a party held at the
house of one of the young men who came from E Europe. The party had been in their h honor. It was
already midnight when the party ended and the girls went off to sleep.

A maga named Anastasia, who was in charge of them, started to tell legends. It was said that if you
look at the mirror and memorize the incantation, you will see the face of whoever it was they were
fated to marry. Agueda decided to try it. But Anastasia warned her that she might see the devil
instead.

She stepped out of the room and went into the room with the big antique mirror with a gold frame,
with only a candle for light. She closed her eyes and whispered the incantation. She heard a step
behind her and instantly opened her eyes.

The scene then shifts into the time when Agueda was telling this incident to her daughter. She said
that she saw the devil and that it had a moustache and a scar like his husband.
Another flashback occurred and it shifts back to that May Day eve. Agueda whirled around to face
Badoy Montiya, the one who showed himself at her shoulder. They got into a misunderstanding and
Agueda went away while Badoy, who was probably drunk by that time, found himself in love.

It shifts now to the year 1890. Don Badoy, who was old, found his grandson Voltaire, standing in front
of the mirror which was the same mirror where Agueda and Badoy met. He stopped his grandson
from whatever he was doing and pulled him over to talk.

This is the time when Don Badoy narrated what he saw in the mirror when he also did that. He said
that he saw a witch and that she was the most beautiful woman he ever saw. Voltaire then told Don
Badoy that his mother once told him that her grandma saw a devil in that mirror too.

Don Badoy then realized that he and Aguade was at peace at last. For a moment he forgot that she
was already dead. But everything shifted back to him. How he fell in love in that May Day eve, and
even how their marriage ended up ruined.

PLOT TYPE: EPISODIC PLOT

The plot does not follow a chronological order, wherein the story starts and ends normally. Instead,
May Day Eve started with a flashback, then it went portrayed Dona Agueda talking to her daughter of
May Day Eve. Then it goes back to another flashback of how Badoy and Agueda met in front of the
mirror and the moment that happened there. Lastly, it ends in the year 1890, where Don Badoy was
telling his grandson of the witch he saw in the mirror.

PLOT DEVICE: FLASHBACK

Nick Joaquin used flashback to give rise to the happenings in the past. He used this to portray the
tragic love story of Agueda and Badoy, and how passion for each other resulted in their ruined
message.