Saturday, May 5, 2012


Feast of Our Lady of Candles

      Feast of Our Lady of Candles held in Jara, Iloilo City every 2nd day of February. Most abundant religious pageanty and the biggest in Western Visayas. The town blessing of candles and the yearly procession patroness, Nuestra Senora de Candelaria, is followed by the fiesta queen and her escort walking around the town.


Sandugo

     The Sandugo Festival is an annual historical celebration that takes place every year in Tagbilaran City on the island of Bohol in the Philippines. This festival commemorates the Treaty of Friendship between Datu Sikatuna, a chieftain in Bohol, and Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi. This 16th Century peace treaty occurred on March 16, 1565 through a blood compact or "sandugo".
The Sandugo Festival is held every July. The Tagbilaran City Charter Day on July 1 kicks-off the month-long festival with a holy mass, diana, motorcade and program sponsored by the City Government of Tagbilaran. Among the major activities during the month is the Miss Bohol Sandugo Beauty Pageant, and the Sandugo Street Dancing Competition which is usually held on the 3rd or 4th Sunday of July, and organized by the Bohol Sandugo Foundation, Inc. (BSFI).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandugo_Festival

Misa De Gallo

      Misa del Gallo or Missa do Galo (literally rooster's mass) are the names given in Spanish and Portuguese, respectively, to the mass celebrated at midnight (or a bit before) on Christmas Eve. It is also known as "Misa de los Pastores" (Shepherd's Mass in Spanish).
Pope Sixtus III (5th century AD), introduced the custom of celebrating Christmas in a night vigil to Rome. At midnight "just after the cockcrow", ad praesepium (before the crib), in a small oratory located behind the high altar of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The discrepancy with today's time for the cockcrow is due to the fact that ancient Romans set the cockcrow at the start of the day, i.e. midnight.
Some television channels broadcast the Pope conducting the midnight mass in Rome. In Spanish-speaking countries the custom is still upheld, specially in Latin America. In Venezuela it is also known as "Misa de Aguinaldo", referring to the traditional Christmas music known by that name. Other regions, such as the Philippines, the prayer is done early in the morning on Christmas Eve, and it is the last day of a nine-day ritual known as Simbang Gabi. Completing the nine days culminating with the Misa de Gallo is said to make a wish come true, and many Filipinos believe this centuries-old promise to this day. One of the customs related to the Philippine Misa de Gallo is the selling of traditional Philippine food, such as puto bumbong (a purple colored rice pastry, seasoned with grated--coconut and brown sugar), tsokolate (a hot chocolate drink), bibingka (flour and egg cakes cooked on top and under), and salabat, or ginger tea, which are sold by vendors to the faithful outside churches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misa_de_Gallo


Thursday, May 3, 2012


Higantes Festival, Angono Rizal

      Higantes Festival, also known as the Feast of San Clemente, is celebrated every November 23 in the town of Angono, Rizal his is a major festival in honor of San Clemente, the patron saint of fishermen. His image is carried by male devotees during a procession accompanied by "pahadores" (devotees dressed in colorful local costumes or fishermen's clothes, wearing wooden shoes and carrying boat paddles, fish nets, traps, etc.) and "higantes" (paper-mâché giants measuring 10-12 feet in height and 4-5 feet in diameter). This street event ends in a procession to Laguna De Bay in the mage is brought back to its sanctuary.






Lanzones Festival, Camiguin Island

The Lanzones Festival celebrates the annual harvest of the lanzones fruit. Houses, carriages, street poles and even people are decorated with lanzones and lanzones leaves. Townsfolk dance in joy, abandon in commemoration of the legend that a beautiful, unknown maiden took from lanzones fruit its former bitter flavor to leave only its luscious, sweet taste.




Masskara Festival

The MassKara Festival is a festival held each year in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental province in the Philippines every third weekend of October nearest October 19, the city's Charter Inauguration Anniversary.



Penafrancia Fluvial Parade

     The feast of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is celebrated on the third Saturday of September in Naga City, Bicol. The feast day is preceded by a novena, nine days of prayer, in honor of theVirgin. On the first day, the image of the Virgin, a copy of the Madonna in Peñafrancia, Spain, is brought from its shrine to the Naga Cathedral where the novena is held. On the last day, the image is returned to her shrine following the Naga River route. The colorful evening procession is lit by thousands of candles from devotees in boats escorting the image. When the barge reaches its destination, the devotees shout "Viva la Virgen" (Long live the Virgin!) and the image is brought back in a procession to the cathedral.