The blog title is of course paraphrased from Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables: “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” And I am certainly so glad for a world with Octobers (and Januarys, Februarys, as well as the rest too!) But October has its own charm – the weather, the festival spirit, and more. It definitely is one of our favorite months for hiking and traveling (if circumstances allow for travel, that is).

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Poetic Sundays: Glad for a World With the Tanaga

October is Filipino American Heritage Month, among a few other Heritage months here in the US. Keeping this in mind, I am featuring the Tanaga today, which is an indigenous Filipino form.

What is The Tanaga Poetic Form?

As mentioned earlier, the Tanaga is an indigenous Filipino poetic form. It is a straight-forward form written in one or more quatrains, with 7 syllables in each line, and most often, with each stanza having its own monorhyme. Some variations of the form use different rhyme schemes, like aabb, abab, abba, and others like aaab or abcd.

The Tanaga’s Characteristics

So the Tanaga’s elements are that it is:

• stanzaic: written in one or more four-line stanzas or quatrains
• syllabic: follows a 7-7-7-7 syllabic count for each quatrain
• rhymed: often monorhymed, originally one rhyme for the whole poem; and modern versions have each stanza with its own monorhyme, as in aaaa, bbbb, cccc, and so on. But other variations are also popular now (like mentioned earlier)
• usually untitled but some modern poets title their Tanagas
• themed: it asks a question or a puzzle that demands an answer
• rich in the use of metaphors.

My Attempt at the Tanaga

So glad for a world with you,
the apple of my eye true!
Hoping you’re glad for me too?
Are you? I so wish I knew!
~ Vidya @ LadyInReadWrites

Disclaimer: I do know that the apple(s) of my eye are all glad for me too!

Recently

On My Blog and the Homefront

I managed (with some catching up though over the last day or two)

• Sunday Scribblings #116: Math Stories and the Wonderful Zeno’s Paradox (es)?!
• Navratri Golu: The Stories of the Marapachi Dolls and More
• Ten Wonderful Stories for Dussehra (and Typographical Covers 2)
• Wondrous Words of Indian Origin
• Wonderful Doll Festival (s): More Than One From Around the World
• Five Fun & Fascinating Facts About the Navaratri Festival
• Ganga’s Journey From Sky to Sea

Upcoming

On My Blog and On the Homefront

Navaratri is almost done, and this means this coming week will be back to packing up the Golu dolls, dismantling the steps for the golu, and setthing our home back to rights. And since I am participating in the UBC as well as plan to Zip Through Autumn in the AtoZ Autumn event, I hope to post everyday (playing catch up at this time for the first few days due to the Navaratri busy-ness)

Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week include: James Herriot and Gore Vidal on the 3rd of Oct; Anne Rice and Jackie Collins on the 4th of October; Rupi Kaur and Cho Ramaswamy on Oct 5th; Anita Shreve, Nikita Singh, Sherman Alexie on Oct 6th; R.L. Stine and Frank Herbert (of Dune fame!) on Oct 8th; John Lennon and Simon Sinek on the 9th
• As I mentioned last week, October happens to be National Book Month and as you all know by now, I celebrate books everyday!! It is also Celebrating The Bilingual Child Month (my kids are bilingual, of sorts.. and also know a bit of Spanish from learning it in high school)
• October 5th is World Teachers’ Day. Also being the first Wednesday in October, observes Random Acts of Poetry Day 
• While October 7th, being the first Thursday in October, is National Poetry Day in UK and Ireland.
• International Post Card Week follows World Postcard Day and is celebrated October 2nd through the 8th annually
• Mystery Series Week – First Full Week of October.
• National Newspaper Week – Begins First Sunday
• World Space Week – October 4-10

Foodie Celebrations

• It is Global Smoothie Day on the 3rd of October!! So whip yourself one, and enjoy..
• October 4th follows with National Cinnamon Bun Day, National Taco Day, and National Vodka Day
• The 5th of Oct is National Apple Betty Day
• National Noodle Day is on the 6th of October
• While the 7th happens to be National Chocolate Covered Pretzel Day and National Frappe Day
• October 8th is World Egg Day, National Fluffernutter Day, and National Pierogi Day
• The 9th of October observes National Moldy Cheese Day. And if you don’t care for it, no worries, International Beer and Pizza Day has got you covered, right?!

Other Celebrations and Observations

• This month is Global Diversity Awareness Month
• The 3rd of October being the first Monday of October observes World Habitat Day and World Architecture Day 
• October 4th observes World Animal Day
• While Oct 5th is National Get Funky Day and National Do Something Nice Day
• Oct 7th is International Day of Non-Violence
• World Octopus Day is on the 8th of October
• October 9th is World Post Day, National Leif Erikson Day, as well as World Migratory Bird Day (which is celebrated annually on the Second Saturday in May and Second Saturday in October)

Related Reads

• Celebrate Mystery Series Week with classic favorites like the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy series; or with a Christie, like this one – Marple.
• Check out Numenia and the Hurricane: Inspired by a True Migration Story (read my review here)

Wrapped Up: My Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. Will you be attempting to write the Tanaga? And, of course, do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon. And for Day Two of the Ultimate Blog Challenge