Bracelets. Keychains. Broken promises.
On a random Sunday afternoon, my mind trajected its view to the box inside my room. I tend to avert my eyes before, but today, that's the apple. I pushed myself out of bed rotting to get the box and open it to once again remember the days and regret what we could've been.
Upon opening the memory box, a bracelet almost made out of dust came into view. It doesn't fit anymore, and it is too small to continue holding onto the moments I wished I cherished.
There are still a lot of things inside. Letters, batch shirts, receipts, wrappers, stickers, and more are piled in a mountain of treasured mementoes. They are my anik-aniks, the keeps of the keeper.
Anik-anik or “ano-ano” is a Filipino term used for charms, trinkets, and others that people tend to collect because they are aesthetically pleasing for the collector. It is quite different from “abubot” and “burloloy” since these are said to be intentionally purchased, while anik-anik can literally be anything.
An anik-anik can be the plastic rose I received during 9th grade's Valentine's event. It can be the group number written on a small paper that I picked during classroom draw lots. It can even be the keychain with someone's name that I only remembered after opening the memory box.
Maximalist expression is related to the core of anik-aniks. These are often seen as additional decorations in ID laces or ID holders and bags. That's why I chose to place some stickers on my notebooks, secure keychains on my backpack, and wear different bracelets.
I can't discard the letters sent, the ones one tried to hide in between book pages, so I turned them into bookmarks. The stories told will meet chapters. The broken promises will hug fiction, it will collide with the reality of the past.
To me, anik-aniks are not just designs but reminders of the things that stayed from people who left. They are sentiments and eulogies of what we could've been. Or maybe of what we should've been.
These anik-aniks are my version of Cup of Joe's “Multo” since, “Hindi na makalaya. Dinadalaw mo 'ko bawat gabi.”
Article by: Ms. Princess Garcia, The Catalyst Associate Editor
Cartoon by: Ms. Almirrah Mondejar, The Catalyst Cartoonist