By Fr. Leo C. Pabayo SJ
Our fiesta and other fiestas have traditionally been celebrated with two kinds of activities, firstly, the religious and then the secular kind of activities like the cultural presentations, trade fair, sports, etc…. The two kinds of activities are related. Religious activities without the other activities would make the fiesta incomplete. And vice versa, the secular activities without the religious would make the fiesta incomplete.
The religious are supposed to be the main activities of the fiesta. This is so because it is a religious feast day that is being celebrated. In our city it is the feast day of St. Augustine, the patron saint of the city. In a secular celebration, like for example the celebration of Independence Day, National Heroes Day or Charter Day, some religious activities should also be part of the celebration. But the prominence would be given to the secular activities, that being the nature of the civic celebration.
A good celebration is always one that is faithful to the nature and purpose of the celebration.
In many fiesta celebrations in various parts of the country the prominence of the religious have been retained. For example, in Naga, the central figure of the celebration is clearly the patron saint of the city, Our Lady of Peñafrancia. Most of the day’s celebration is devoted to the procession of Ina. It is participated in not only be the residents of the city but also by the faithful from the neighboring towns and balikbayans from other parts of the country and even from outside the country.
In Cebu it is the St. Niño that is the main focus of the celebration. The religious activities are not confined to the cathedral. The main streets are given to the dancing of the Sinulog. In the past the Sinulog was clearly a religious event, the Cebuano’s way of giving honor to the Holy Child. The spirit of worship could be felt in the dancing.
However, I have heard that in recent years the spirit of prayer is fading in the Sinulog. That it is becoming more and more of a show for the tourists than a sincere act of worship.
In the fiesta celebration of Quiapo district of Manila, the Procession of to the Black Nazarene is the main attraction. And it is participated in by countless numbers of devotees. Although admittedly, the Quiapo fiesta seems to consist only of religious activities and does not celebrate the other aspects of the life of a Christian community, nevertheless, the celebration does not nourish the faith of the people to some extent.
The Bol-anons among us can testify to the predominance of the religious aspect in their fiesta celebrations in Bohol. One can find this predominance of religiosity in the fiesta celebrations in other parts of the Philippines.
In our own fiesta celebration the religious part has not been prominent in recent years. As a matter of fact the other activities have eclipsed the religious activities or crowded them out into the sideline.
There was a time when the Novena of Masses, the Solemn High Mass, the Procession and Benediction were the main activities of the fiesta. These were generously participated in by the Catholics in the city. Big contingents from the schools came to these activities. They were also attended by some leaders and prominent personalities in the city.
The Diana which started from and ended at the cathedral was meant to wake the people up to come to the religious services at the Cathedral. The Solemn High Mass presided by the Archbishop was the biggest event of the fiesta. Late afternoon was devoted to a procession. There was singing of religious hymns and the praying of the Rosary as the procession wound its way through the main streets of the city. The participants carried lighted candles signifying the light of Christ as being brought to the various parts of the city. The procession culminated with Solemn Benediction. The precession was participated in by professionals and laborers, farmers and fishermen, the old and the young.
However, in recent years the precession took place at dawn, was participated in by a few devotees and covered only a short distance. For those who did not join the procession and religious activities at the cathedral, the religious nature of the fiesta would have escaped them. Unless one got out of his way to look for the religious activities he probably would not have noticed them.
In last year’s planning of the fiesta celebration the religious aspect did not get the attention that it deserved from the planning committee. There was no mention of the religious activities in the program of activities. Only a brief message from the bishop was printed in a small space in the local papers. Most newspaper reports after the celebration made no mention whatsoever about the religious activities. (While in the process of writing this piece, I got a print out from our librarian in XU Grade School of last year’s articles on the fiesta in the Gold Star Daily and discovered that Mike Baños had already noted of this same lack).
It would have been to the spiritual benefits of the citizens if something was reported about the various topics that were preached through the nine days of Masses and novena prayers at the Cathedral and what the archbishop had said at the Solemn High Mass about St. Augustine in the relation to the concerns of the city and the nation today.
A fiesta is one of the special occasions when the people give expression to their religious nature. It is also a special occasion for calling the attention of those who have forgotten to pay attention to their religious need. There is need for our city to restore the prominence of the religious in our fiesta celebration because this is what the fiesta is mainly about.
Secondly, there is a need to see the relationship between the religious activities of the fiesta and the other activities. True religion naturally leads to the enrichment of the secular life of the people. That is why the first fiesta celebrations spontaneously also found its expression in the secular world.
The secular celebration is the spontaneous expression of the blessings that the people have received in various aspects of their life, the cultural, political, the economics, etc…
The two kinds of activities during the fiesta need to be related. This will enrich the spiritual life of the people and lead to the right kind of development in the cultural, economic, political, etc…life of the city.
