BREAKING
Showing posts with label travels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travels. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Aliwan Fiesta 2014: Philippines' Grand Festival of Champions


Wazzup Pilipinas!

Dubbed this year as the Philippines’ Grand Festival of Champions, Aliwan Fiesta gathered once again some of the best festivities in the country showcasing the unique culture, colours and creativity of the regions.

This vibrant 3-day event, organized by the Manila Broadcasting Company and now on its 12th year, is a grand competition among the municipalities that vie for prestige and top prize in each of the three categories: the cultural street dance, the float parade, and a beauty contest titled as Reyna ng Aliwan.

Delegates proudly parade their respective larger-than-life float, enchanting muse, and folk dance interpretation of their festival starting from Quirino Grandstand to Aliw Theater.

A total of 14 street dance groups, including the Hall of Famer Sinulog Festival of Cebu, and 17 municipal floats painted the Roxas Blvd a festive hue.

A number of marching bands also graced the event. For years, the Festival of Festivals is giving away top cash prizes. This year, PhP 1,000,000 has to be given away for the Grand Champion in the cultural streetdance and PhP 500,000 for the Best Festival Float.


Friday, April 18, 2014

Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday: San Sebastian Parish

  
Wazzup Pilipinas!

Our last destination for our Visita Iglesia was a visit to the San Sebastian Parish. This parish is located at M.H. De Pilar street of Barangay Pinagbuhatan in Pasig City. It is one of the oldest parish in Pasig city celebrating more than 400 years.

It originated as the first chapel established by the Spaniards prior to the establishment of the present-day Pasig church. It comprises the entire barangay of Pinagbuhatan, being a parish under the Diocese of Pasig.

It's parochial erection was on May 31, 1990, with Fr. David Colong as its parish priest. San Sebastian Parish is adjacent to its parochial school, the Escuela Catolica de San Sebastian.





WE again saw the cross and images of saints all covered up with purple cloths. In fact, the entire altar was covered up with a huge purple cloth.

"The custom of veiling crosses and images .... has much to commend it in terms of religious psychology, because it helps us to concentrate on the great essentials of Christ's work of Redemption." 

Although this is true, the historical origin of this practice lies elsewhere. It probably derives from a custom, noted in Germany from the ninth century, of extending a large cloth before the altar from the beginning of Lent. 

This cloth, called the "Hungertuch" (hunger cloth), hid the altar entirely from the faithful during Lent and was not removed until during the reading of the Passion on Holy Wednesday at the words "the veil of the temple was rent in two." 

Some authors say there was a practical reason for this practice insofar as the often-illiterate faithful needed a way to know it was Lent. 



Others, however, maintain that it was a remnant of the ancient practice of public penance in which the penitents were ritually expelled from the church at the beginning of Lent. 

After the ritual of public penance fell into disuse — but the entire congregation symbolically entered the order of penitents by receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday— it was no longer possible to expel them from the church. Rather, the altar or "Holy of Holies" was shielded from view until they were reconciled to God at Easter. 



For analogous motives, later on in the Middle Ages, the images of crosses and saints were also covered from the start of Lent. 

The rule of limiting this veiling to Passiontide came later and does not appear until the publication of the Bishops' Ceremonial of the 17th century. 

After the Second Vatican Council there were moves to abolish all veiling of images, but the practice survived, although in a mitigated form.










This is me having my photo taken with the image of Mama Mary, the blessed virgin mother of Jesus Christ.

We left the parish saying "Viva San Sebastian!"

 
After we left the parish, we noticed some of the residents preparing for a procession later that night. There were several images of saints all lined up at that particular area of the barangay. I think a few of the more affluent residents acted as sponsors to the procession and they have their respective images of saints all dressed up for the occasion.

 
The barangay will convert itself into a vibrant place of festivities even during Lenten season. There is an almost mardi gras-like atmosphere when a parade or procession takes place on the streets. People tend to dress their best and decorate their float with the most flowers they could possibly use to make it colorful and appealing.

  
 


There was even an image of Jesus Christ nailed on a cross.



To reward ourselves for completing the strenuous task of going from one church to the next within one day, we decided to buy some halo-halo being sold at a nearby carinderia. The summer heat was tolerable since we mostly walked under the shades of the small neighborhoods of Pasig, but it was pure bliss the moment we tasted the cool refreshing mixture of bananas, jackfruit, beans, black mongos, sweet potatoes, jellos, ube and leche plan,

The halo-halo was the perfect sweet treat to end the day.




The Visita Iglesia was an experience worth repeating every year. Our country has several churches that it will take you almost a great deal of your lifetime to be able to visit seven of them for every year. The Philippines has about as many Catholic churches as Bali has temples.

While others start within their neighborhood, others prefer flying off to other cities to make it more special, and to become their vacation as well as they go through the other notable tourist spots of the country.

But wait, somebody told me that a few people are doing fourteen churches instead of just seven. Wow! Now that's what you call a real challenge.

In fact, there's this invitation to go around the following churches of Manila:

1. Assumption Church (Our Lady of the Assumption Parish)
 2. Malate Catholic Church (Our Lady of Remedies Parish)
3. Ermita Church (Archdiocesan Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Guia Parish)
4. San Agustin Church  (Shrine of Our Lady of Correa / Immaculate Conception Parish)
 5. Manila Cathedral (Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica)
 6. Binondo Church (Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish)
7. Chinese Catholic Church (This I don't know the formal name)
8. Sta.Cruz Church (Church of Our Lady of the Pillar)
9. Quiapo Church (officially known as the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, canonically known as Saint John the Baptist Parish and colloquially known as Quiapo Church)
10. Holy Face Church (Holy Face of Jesus Chapel)
11. San Sebastian Church (Basilica Minore de San Sebastian)
12. San Beda Church ( Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat)
13. St. Jude Parish  (Saint Jude Thaddeus Archdiocesan Shrine)
14. San Miguel Church (National Shrine of Saint Michael and the Archangels) (aso called Villa de San Miguel Church and Malacañang Chruch due to its proximity to the Palace)

I will be sure to try this list soon even if not during Visita Iglesia.


Related Stories

http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2014/04/visita-iglesia-on-good-friday-sta-lucia.html

http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2014/04/visita-iglesia-on-good-friday.html

http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2014/04/visita-iglesia-on-good-friday-san.html

http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2014/04/visita-iglesia-on-good-friday-san_9254.html

http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2014/04/visita-iglesia-on-good-friday-sto.html

http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2014/04/visita-iglesia-on-good-friday-sta-clara.html

Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday: Immaculate Conception Cathedral


Wazzup Pilipinas !

The second church we went to on our Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday was the one that we often go to when attending mass every Sunday. This is also where I was baptized and Christened. This is the same church where my daughter was also Christened.

According to Wikipedia, the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, or also known as the Pasig Cathedral, is located at Plaza Rizal in Barangay Malinao, Pasig City in the Philippines. It is the cathedral or seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pasig, belonging to the Vicariate of the Immaculate Conception. It was established as a mission-parish by the Augustinian missionaries on July 2, 1573, coinciding the foundation of the town of Pasig (now, Pasig City).

The former Immaculate Conception Parish was administered by the CICM Fathers from 1910 to 1979, after which the Filipino clergy took over the pastoral leadership of the parish. Until 2003, the parish was a part of the Archdiocese of Manila. On August 21, 2003, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pasig was inaugurated, with the elevation of the parish into the status of a cathedral.


Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday: San Agustin Parish


Wazzup Pilipinas!

It's time again for another Visita Iglesia adventure on a Good Friday. While some spend their long weekend at the beach, devotees seek serenity by doing the Visita Iglesia to contemplate on the Passion of Christ. It is the time of the year when the churches comes alive as Catholics from all over the country flock to their choice of churches.

Visita Iglesia is also known as the visitation of seven churches, but some would go beyond that number if time, and budget, permits. Also a weak knee, a sore feet and a hungry or thirsty stomach, could add to the factors necessary to decide whether to move on, rest for a while, or go back home and sleep.

We would normally start early morning, but a few days before we've already planned where to go and which church to go first. We'll have a list of churches on our schedule and sometimes a map if we are not familiar with the places we have selected for this year's Visita Iglesia.

For some, accomplishing the task of finishing all seven church visitations will reward the doer with a wish granted. Maybe the higher power above will hear our prayers for all the effort. But in my case, as a traveler, it is a pleasure to see the sights especially if we will be there for the very first time. Many of our churches are built with superb architecture worth capturing to share with readers of my blog. Plus, the thought that I was able to accomplish the strenuous task of going from one church to the next in just a day is highly rewarding enough for me.


Visita Iglesia on a Good Friday: Sta. Clara De Montefalco Parish


Wazzup Pilipinas !

Visita Iglesia is an annual tradition that many Filipino Catholics observe come Holy Week. Usually we will read about many travel bloggers who would go on some "church hopping" at different places in the country. Admirable, yet so old ages. Been there, done that, what's new?

We suddenly decided one day that we won't be going back to those far off but popular churches in the Philippines. They are all too over-rated already. Almost everyone has been there and seen it for so many times already.

So since we were actually a tad busy too, we decided to do our Visita Iglesia within our neighborhood only. Yes! We will be visiting just the churches of our beloved city of Pasig.


Ang Pambansang Blog ng Pilipinas Wazzup Pilipinas and the Umalohokans. Ang Pambansang Blog ng Pilipinas celebrating 10th year of online presence
 
Copyright © 2013 Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events
Design by FBTemplates | BTT