Stored Treasure: Wowed by the Carabaos! -- The Pulilan Carabao Festival

BAYANIHAN REPUBLIC:

Stored Treasure / 21 May 2011

http://digitista.blogspot.com/2011/05/wowed-by-carabaos-pulilan-carabao.html

In my quest to chronicle every Philippine treasure that I can possibly see,  I started being pro-active in personally checking out the wonderful things that our country has to offer.  May 15 is such a fantastic date as many things are happening all through out the Philippines.  Last year, I was able to experience the unique Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon.  But this year, the May 15 event I chose to witness is the Pulilan Carabao Festival (which is just two towns away from my ancestor's place)!  =)

Stored Treasure: Finding the last craftsman of pastillas de leche wrapper of Bulacan

BAYANIHAN REPUBLIC:

Stored Treasure / 21 April 2011
http://digitista.blogspot.com/2011/04/finding-last-craftsman-of-pastillas-de.html

I started my blog in the week of February 22 to 25, 2010 and today, I have just written my 100th story / blog post.   And I wanted the 100th to be a special one.  As such, for the 100th story of Tatak Digitista, under the Bayanihan Republic section, I especially picked this one and and actually conducted field research and interviews to complete the story.

Nanay Luz Ocampo, considered the last craftsman of pastillas de leche wrapper of Bulacan

When new found friends or colleagues always learn that my family is from Malolos, Bulacan, they usually ask a request from me to bring and let them taste Bulacan's native delicacies like inipit, kakanin, ensaymadang Malolos and... pastillas.  I usually tell them the story about pastillas de leche and the lola (grandmother) who makes well crafted pastillas wrapper (also called pabalat), considered to be the last of her kind.  The promise I give my friends is, once I found this lola, I will surely bring the said delicacy as pasalubong (pasalubong is a Filipino tradition where one brings gifts, tokens or delicacies from the place he visited or came from).  Oh my, what have I gotten myself into?  =)

Treasure Find 22: Four Blessings and A Smile -- Our Visita Iglesia in Bulacandia

BAYANIHAN REPUBLIC:

Every Holy Week, our family and relatives have a tradition -- Pabasa (day long chanting of Jesus Christ's story), Walk to Kapitangan and sometimes Prusisyon (procession of biblical images).  That's why it's a NO NO for me to go elsewhere at that time of the year since our family have a yearly Lenten practice and a reunion as well.  How can I let go of such wonderful tradition and bonding time right?  Anyway, while planning for this year's Holy Week activities, my Tita Elvie and I thought of something different this time around.  And that gave birth to the idea of a day long, Bulacan-wide Visita Iglesia!

Visita Iglesia is a Catholic tradition done every Holy Week to pray and remember Christ's life, death and resurrection.  This is just like the Stations of the Cross where people stop and pray every station (there are 14 stations) that represents a stage in the Passion of the Christ.  In Visita Iglesia on the other hand, each church represents a station.  

Stored Treasure: Barasoain Church's procession for faith and tradition

BAYANIHAN REPUBLIC:

Stored Treasure / 04 April 2010

Next in the Holy Week tradition that I revisited is the Good Friday procession of the Way of the Cross.  The procession features life size replicas of biblical characters and scenes depicted in the Passion of Jesus Christ.

At Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan, the activity usually starts at around 5 or 6 PM but we managed to enter the patio right before the procession so we could have a better look at the sacred figures. =)  Here are some of the shots I have taken.

Barasoain Church may be an icon in Philippine History but first and foremost, it is a home to centuries old Filipino Catholic tradition.

Stored Treasure: Talk the Walk... the Good Friday walk to Kapitangan

BAYANIHAN REPUBLIC:

Stored Treasure / 02 April 2010 
http://digitista.blogspot.com/2010/04/talk-walk-good-friday-walk-to.html

Like the "pabasa", the "lakad sa Kapitangan" (walk to Kapitangan) is another Holy Week activity I grew up with. There's nothing spectacular about this tradition except that we get to walk in woods and rice fields, see the standard Filipino Catholic activity like Via Crucis and penitensya, eat native dishes at the street, buy "langis" (oil) that said to possess healing power, witness the crucifixion of Mother Paring, an old woman who make herself crucified each year during Holy Week and of course bond with my cousins.

Photo shows a man who volunteered himself to do the penitensya.

Stored Treasure: Pabasa lives on and enriches relationships, spirituality and culture

 
BAYANIHAN REPUBLIC:

Stored Treasure / 01 April 2010

After Christmas, Holy Week is the next most awaited occasion in our family as it brings us to valuable traditional activities that were started decades ago.

On Holy Thursday, we have the "pabasa", an activity where people chant the book that narrates the Passion of the Christ. In pre-colonial Philippines, poems are not read but sang or chanted (like in epics Lam-ang and Alim). That I think is the reason why pabasa is done that way.

On Good Friday, we have the "Walk to Kapitangan" which I will blog next, the "prayer at Barihan" and "prusisyon at Barasoain". Come Saturday, since there are plenty of kids, we usually have a swim. =)

Treasure Find 5: The Horse Takes Over The Cart!

TREASURE FIND 5:

In 2010, I posted this article Pinoy Cow retires from driving the cart.  I was amused with what I saw but at the same time missed the cow pulling the cart which I grew up with. 

Almost two years after, I saw another innovation of the said cart.  Now, another animal is driving it!  Yes, what you are seeing is a horse.  Well, perhaps the owners felt using the horse is more practical since it's
 much faster than the original cow pulling the cart.

This shot was taken at the Mac Arthur Highway in Malolos, Bulacan.