So, I have to say that God and Sister Minerva really planned the timing of my trip quite well!! Many thanks for that!!
September 8th is the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. It is a feast celebrated most amazingly by all of Borongan. Borongan is quite a big city and the Feast of the Nativity of Mary is the biggest celebration all year for the city. The party begins days before the actual feast with festivals and parades. Here is why the feast is so important to Borongans:
In the 1600's, there was a ship sailing along the Pacific Ocean. One of its passengers was a beautiful young woman dressed in blue. As they were passing by what is now present day Philippines, she asked to captain to be let off the boat. Not knowing of any land nearby, he refused. Hours later, he searched for her and could not find her. All that was left in her cabin was a statue of the Blessed Virgin, the very lady who was on the boat. Now, at that time in the Philippines, there was a terrible plague that was taking the lives of many children. One day, someone saw a beautiful lady bathing in a spring in the center of town. She then moved toward the church and entered it. She was followed by some villagers but upon entering the church, they found it to be empty. But the villagers all agreed that the woman looked miraculously like Mary, the mother of Jesus. So, the people began to bathe their children in the spring and found, to their amazement, that the children were healed! From that time on, the city of Borongan has honored Mary as their patron saint and celebrate her birthday each year.
On September 7th, I began the day with mass at the Bishop's residence with Bishop Crispin himself!! What an honor! We were also invited to have breakfast with the Bishop and watch the parade of marching bands and dancers from his window. The parade was so great and the elementary and high school students who participated did an excellent job!! Super cute!! Following the parade was a traditional dance competition in the town square. Sister Clarissa and I were allowed on the stage to watch the dancing right in front of us! There were three high school groups, each with at least 50 dancers. They had to relate the historical significance of the feast through dance, music, costumes and props. WOW!!! I mean WWWOWWW! What an amazing job each group did. Even now, thinking about it, my mind is blown away at the thought of the time to make the props and costumes, choreograph all the dancers and plan the music with each high school's own band. There were also judges who chose a winner so it was pretty competitive! Many city dignitaries were there and it was also recorded for television... which I was on, so I am told I am now a tv star in the Philippines!! Then at night, we traveled to a few different houses for dinner. That is also a tradition of this feast... to prepare traditional foods and open your doors to friends and strangers alike. Everything I had was delicious and I met some really wonderful people as well.
So today, on the actual feast, I am going with the sisters to serve lunch at the Bishop's residence. It is a custom that anyone who does not have people to visit may receive lunch at the church. So I will help hand out bagged lunches and drinks to the people of Borongan. Then we are going to 4pm mass and following mass there is a procession throughout the city. Afterwards, I am sure there will be more eating!!!
Being that my first night here was in a nice hotel, and the next few at Providence Home were spent enjoying the celebrations of the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, I gotta say... it's been a really nice adjustment for me into life in the Philippines. Now tomorrow is a day of rest after the feast and after that... my work begins I am told, but what that entails I do not know at this point. I will just enjoy the remainder of the day and go to bed bone tired as I have every night since coming here, looking forward to whatever tomorrow brings. Nice life, huh??
Just one other thought... how cool is it that the entire city celebrates the birthday of Mary? That the biggest celebration in the secular calendar is a religious feast? That there are pictures of Mary all over town and the churches are filled with people honoring Mary for days and days before the actual feast day. Pretty cool in my opinion!!! xxoo
