Summer Solstice By Nick Joaquin Pdf
A Full Review: Summer Solstice by Nick Joaquin (PDF Format)
Title: Summer Solstice Author: Nick Joaquin (National Artist of the Philippines) Published: 1972 (Originally in The Woman Who Had Two Navels collection) Format Reviewed: Digital PDF (various sources, including academic archives and Project Gutenberg)
2. Short summary (200 words)
"Summer Solstice" (also known as "Tatarin") is a short story by Filipino author Nick Joaquin that dramatizes a ritual festival in 19th-century Manila where women celebrate the feast of Saint John and perform the pagan Tatarin rites. Set during the Midsummer or summer solstice period, the story centers on Don Paeng, a conservative, effeminate patriarch who controls his wife, Doña Lupeng. After witnessing the women's Tatarin rites—marked by drumming, procession, and a display of female solidarity—Doña Lupeng experiences a psychological and spiritual awakening. She confronts Don Paeng, strips him of his authority, and asserts her own agency. The narrative explores themes of gender roles, colonial Catholicism versus indigenous paganism, ritual and power, performance and identity, and the tension between surface respectability and suppressed passions. Joaquin uses baroque, ornate prose and rich symbolism (the sun/solstice, the whip, the drum, the wedding veil) to link personal transformation with cultural reclaiming. The story ends ambiguously, suggesting a temporary but powerful reversal of social order. summer solstice by nick joaquin pdf
2. The Topsy-Turvy World (The World Turned Upside Down)
The Tatarin ritual is a "liminal" event—a time when normal rules are suspended. Servants can boss masters; women can command men. Joaquin uses this to explore the fragile cage of 1920s Manila society. For one night, the repressed id comes out to play. The horror for Don Paeng isn't that Lupeng is angry; it is that she has discovered a power that makes his manhood irrelevant. A Full Review: Summer Solstice by Nick Joaquin
Guide to Accessing and Understanding “Summer Solstice” by Nick Joaquin
1. The Duel of Faiths: Catholicism vs. Paganism
Joaquin, a lapsed seminarian, was obsessed with the "baroque" nature of Philippine spirituality. He argued that the Spanish friars never truly erased the indigenous anito worship. In the story, the Summer Solstice represents Paganism—the worship of the earth, fertility, and the female principle. The feast of St. John (where men splash water to symbolize baptism) represents Catholicism. The tragedy of the story is that neither faith can fully possess the characters. Don Paeng loses his dignity trying to enforce Catholic order; Lupeng nearly loses her sanity embracing pagan chaos. Joaquin uses baroque, ornate prose and rich symbolism