313. HONORING SAN ISIDRO, by Bibsy M. Carballo, Sunday Times Magazine

By Bibsy M. Carballo    /    Photos: Romeo Vitug 

Photos of  San Isidro, courtesy of Jayson Maceo

The Sunday Times Magazine, 21 May 1972, pp. 26-27

Sincerity Flamboyance, Festivity.

Nowhere else in the world, perhaps, is as much tribte and homage given to the food god than in the coconut-producing towns of Quezon province,

Perhaps it had to do with the utter dependence of the crop on the whims of nature; perhaps it can be explained through the people’s love for ritual and spectacle. Whatever the reasons, the fifteenth of May each year is a special day dedicated to San Isidro, patron saint of the farmers.

In Sariaya, boys clamber up abamboo
pole to try to topple it.

For weeks before this day, all regular work stops and the entire towns busy themselves in preparing the buntings and delicacies that will hamg from wondows and bamboo poles around the town.

Although each town celebrates the feast in its own way with even urbanized Lucena paying lip service with a few street decorations, the towns of Lukban and Sariaya, are the perennial competitors in the art of celebrating San Isidro.

The street is a mad sceneof happy grabbing and elbowing.

Lukban, with its candy-colored kipings in fancy shapes, its fruits and baskets, its entire window facades in a riot of colors. Sariaya, with its bamboo poles festooned with goodies which are torn down as the venerable San isidro passes by in the procession in the early evening; less colorful, less party-pretty, bit more exuberant and spontaneous.

A satisfied grin on his face, Sariaya well-wisher
walks away with his prized possessions.

And, as always, in keeping with the tradition of prayers for food and a good harvest, no visitor is allowed to go home empty. Food is literally pushed down one’s throat; it is an insult to decline. Houses are opened up to entire strangers; and as the Alcalas of Sariaya have found out, no one has really been proven to be the loser by such a reckless gesture.

293. BARRIO SALUYSOY’S SANTO CRISTO AND SAN PEDRO: Then & Now

THE TWO SACRED IMAGES OF SALUYSOY, MEYCAUAYAN

In the ancient barrio of Saluysoy, in Meycauayan, Bulacan, there kept in the visita of the barangay, two old images revered since one can remember: the image of Santo Cristo (Crucified Christ) and San Pedro (Saint Peter).

Saluysoy, located adjacent to the heart of the town, takes its name from a slow-flowing gurgling brook which cut northwards at the eastern side of the original location of the barrio. “Saluysoy” means the sound of a brook’s steady water flow.  But when the water dried out, residents relocated to the west of the barrio where  a faster-flowing river was found. People dug up wells to ensure that they do not run of water anymore in their new place, which retained the name “Saluysoy”. The former abandoned site was named “Palanas”.

VISITA OF SALUYSOY

The barrio played a small, but significant part in the second world war. In 1941, when the Japanese Army broke through the USAFFE lines en route to conquering Manila, the barrio folks put on a gallant resistance that delayed the march of the invaders to the capital city by 11 days.

In the 1950s, it was said that indolence was unknown to the hard-working people of Saluysoy. Though small in size, the barangay thrived on many industries—shoemaking, wood carving, blacksmithing, goldsmithing, farming, fishing, and making of religious images.

It would seem that the two processional images were carved locally for the chapel, as the people were also known for being devout and religious. The chapel itself was rebuilt after the war, and at one time was considered to be the most beautiful in the whole province of Bulacan. It was fully funded through the efforts of “Samahang San Pedro”, a leading religious organization.

Today, Saluysoy is one of the more prosperous barangays of the city of Meycauayan, its prosperity driven by its jewelcraft and goldsmithing industries. Every year, the images of the barrio patrons—Santo Cristo and San Pedro—are brought out for processions during the May 4 barangay fiesta. San Pedro’s feast day is also observed separately by Saluysoy folks every June 29.

CREDITS:
Many thanks to Mr. Robby de la Vega for the photos and for the background on brgy. Saluysoy from the Historical Data Papers of Meycauayan

281. Retro-Santo: SAN AGUSTIN DE BALIUAG

ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, the patron saint of Baliwag, Bulacan. From
a souvenir fiesta prayer card, 1973

.

The San Agustin Parish Church of Baliuag stands in the town’s poblacion, an age-old church that was counded by Spanish Agustinos in 1733.  The parish was placed under the patronage of San Agustin de Hippo, as expected, and has come to be the mother church of five other parish churches in Baliwag town.

Associated with the church are three known religious images of San Agustin in varying sizes—one, a private image that used to be loaned to the church but which the family has taken to Manila; the second, a lifesize de vestir san Agustin which occupies one reredo of the church (known as San Agustin Bata), and third—the most ancient  and smallest of them all—a  3 foot  de bulto image that goes out on processions on the saint’s two feast days in May and August.

SAN AGUSTIN., an ivory replica owned by Don Allan..

The third San Agustin image is also the most familiar of them all, as it has existed as far back as one can remember. Town lore has it that this church-owned image is what is brought on processions when farmers seek divine intervention to ask for more rain for better harvests.

SAN AGUSTIN with mother, Sta. Monica.

The antique image is well-carved with just a characteristic hint of folksiness.  It sports a long beard, and is leaner than your usual San Agustins that are often depicted as stockier and with a bulkier frame. As the bishop of Hippo, the saint wears a cope, a silvered metal mitre and holds a maquette of a small church, in reference his being a Doctor of the Church. He holds with his right hand a brass baculo (crozier). It is believed that the santo once owned a set of silver accessories, but the whereabouts today are not known.

SAN AGUSTIN, Then and Now.

Every second Sunday of May and August 28, San Agustin is taken out and is borne on his flower-decorated carroza owned by Mr. Allan Tengco, who is designated as the caretaker of Baliuag’s most revered image.

FROM A PRAYER CARD, San Agustin Fiesta, 1973.

These are special days for the people of Baliuag to remember and honor their patron saint who has generously showered the town with his graces: “DAKILANG ARAW NG PAG-GUNITA KAY SAN AGUSTIN, Obispo ng Hipona, Pantas ng Simbahan, Tagapagtatag ng Orden de San Agustin (OSA), Patron ng Bayang Baliuag, ng mga Teologo, at Isang Mainam na Halimbawa ng Pagbabalik-loob sa Diyos”.

MANY THANKS to J. Alcaraz Roberto, Lance Silva, San Agustin de Baliuag Fiesta FB page,  for the use of their photos.

243. STA. MARIA MAGDALENA OF KAWIT : Patroness of the Revolution

SANTA MARIA MAGDALENA, patroness of the Philippine Revolution.

 The town of Kawit in Cavite is one of the country’s cradles of history, a town linked inseparably with Aguinaldo and the Philippine Revolution. Kawit is also home to a revered image of the repentant sinner-saint, Sta. Maria Magdalena, under whose patronage the town has been placed over 300 years ago, during the term of Manila Archbishop Miguel Garcia Serrano (1618-1629). The revered image of Sta. Maria is enshrined in her own altar at the age-old baroque Kawit Church, known as the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

Over the years, devotion to the saint has become so widespread throughout the region and its most well-known devotee is no less than General Emilio Famy Aguinaldo, first president of the Philippine Republic. The Kawit-born revolutionary leader would ask for her protection every time he would venture out, and his safe delivery would always be attributed to the workings of the santa. Aguinaldo would even name his factionist movement after his patroness— "Magdalo". It is nowonder that Sta.Maria Magdalena has also earned the unofficial title as the “Patron Saint of the Philippine Revolution.”

 The antique life-size image of Sta, Maria is of wood, carved in the round, including her hair and vestment drapings, painted pink, orange and gold. However, like many de bulto images, she is outfitted with real clothes—usually, a gold-embroidered red gown, matched with a golden yellow cape. Be-wigged and shod in silver shoes, the saint holds her iconographic attributes—a perfume jar on her right hand and a crucifix on the other.

 There is a characteristic mark on her forehead, which others refer to as a mole (“nunal”) but it has been speculated that it is the symbolic mark left by Jesus's fingertip when He gently admonished her to “ touch me not” during their encounter three days after His death.

 Devotion to Sta. Maria Magdalena is year-round, but it reaches its peak during her July 21 feast days. On the eve of the fiesta, at 7 in the morning, the caracol tradition of bringing the image out in her flower-trimmed anda to make the rounds of the town begins. The anda bearers and the thousands of pilgrim-followers dance their way from Binakayan to Alapan, while prayers are said and favors are requested. Fandango is the traditional dance step used to convey the image from town to town.

 The santa is also brought on a riverine procession on a “casco” to bless the waters of Cavite and make them more bountiful.

 On the fiesta day itself—July 22—a grand procession is held on the main streets of Kawit. The 7:00 pm. procession is led by light-bearing youngsters followed by the lavishly-decorated carozza of Sta. Maria Magdalena, and a retinue of townsfolk. Groups of devotees called “Maginoos” and “Ginangs” dressed in their finery are at the tail-end. The parade ends at 10 p.m. and is capped with a feast-for-all sponsored by the Hermanos and Hermanas of the fiesta.

The fiesta revelry continues at the church patio where carnival rides, games and sideshows provide added enjoyment to the people of Kawit whose devotion to theis Sta. Maria Magdalena knows no bound, through periods of strife, struggle and present-day prosperity.

ALL PHOTOS from DR. RAYMUND FELICIANO COLLECTION