Critical Analysis of "The Wedding Dance" by Amador Daguio

"The Wedding Dance" by Amador Daguio is a short story about a husband and wife, Awiyao and Lumnay, who had been married for seven years. However, they were not blessed with a child which is a must in their tribe’s custom. A man should have a child with his wife, if they don’t then a man can remarry again to another woman who can possibly give him a child. In spite of their love for each other, they couldn’t change their fate under their tribe. 

Awiyao marries again to Madulimay in order to have a son. At his second marriage celebration, Awiyao goes to check and invite Lumnay to join the other women to the wedding dance. 

Lumnay was in fact at his wedding, but her purpose was to confront the tribe about their tribe’s tradition of having to marry another partner just to have a child isn’t right at all. However, she loses courage and just left.

Awiyao and Lumnay most likely to belong to the Igorot people who inhabit the mountain areas of Luzon. The Igorot people maintained many of their traditional cultural practices through the late 19th century. Even today, dance and gangsa music form an important part of their celebrations. In “The Wedding Dance”, Amador Daguio depicted the culture of his ancestors, he was actually born in the Ilocos province of the Philippines, to explore Filipino traditions along with the universal themes of love, suffering, and societal expectations, which adds desire to the readers, especially to the Filipino, to read the story since it establish a pure Filipino element.

The mood of the story is actually sad and intense especially to the part wherein both characters express their feelings to each other, which made the readers think that Awiyao might change his decision. The point of view used in this short story is the Omniscient Limited - the author tells the story in the third person and readers only know what the character knows and what the author wanted to tell. There is extensive use of the literary device Symbolism such as the darkness, the house’s four walls, the smoldering embers, and the beads. The darkness symbolizes how the two lead characters feel and the mood of the story. It was presented in the introductory phase which gives a hint that the story expressed gloom. Meanwhile, the house’s walls symbolize the former couple’s imprisonment, knowing that they couldn’t escape from their tradition. It’s already part of them. The smoldering embers that become glowing coals mean that they still have feelings toward each other. And lastly, the beads symbolize their great love for each other, that they were tied in a moment of time.

The theme “True love is boundless” is applicable in this story. Love has no boundaries- even in law or in the minds of the people. If love truly existed to both hearts then it will stay there forever. No one could take that away from them even if they are away from each other. 

Love has no boundaries- it’s immeasurable, it can either be shown through holding on or giving up because both ways have a story to tell and it's valid. There is no fixed definition of what we call “true love”. What matters the most is that you have loved and showed it in a way that you think is right.