Notes from Naga City, the Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines

Naga City was not declared the Pilgrim City of the Philippines for nothing. It is my first time here in Naga, and for that matter, in the Bicolandia, and I have felt the deep religiosity of the Bicolanos.

The plane which I took from Manila landed at the domestic airport in Pili, the capital of Camarines Sur. It rests near the foot of the imposing Mount Isarog, a natural greeting to any guest arriving in this part of the country.

The trip went well and despite the last minute reservation I made with Naga Land Hotel, I was pretty surprised I was offered a nice accommodation and free shuttle from the Airport! The front desk provided me with the only room available, a Deluxe suite, which can accommodate three people. It is spacious and clean. The hotel staff were very friendly. I made special requests many times over but they never hesitate to provide me with what I needed. The bed was comfortable and they offer three pillows, more than the usual most hotels offer. Breakfast is available for an additional P50.00. 

Camarines Sur is known for its pili nuts and spicy delicacies! The hotel is located at the heart of the city center and a short walk is 1st Colonial, the restaurant that offers authentic and innovative Bicolano cuisine. Worth trying is its famous Sili Ice Cream. You can opt for varying intensity of the  ice cream’s spiciness, depending on how much you can tolerate!

The town was established in 1575 upon the order of Spanish Governor-General Francisco de Sande, the city, then named Ciudad de Nueva Cáceres (New Cáceres City), earned its status as the third Spanish Royal City in the Spanish East Indies after Iloilo and Manila.

Tourists can go on a Naga history and culture tour to visit many of its centuries-old structures. At Plaza Quince Martires, you can marvel at the memorial established in honor of the Fifteen Martyrs of Bicol. Eleven of the 15 were executed at the Luneta in Manila five days after the execution of Dr. Jose Rizal, while the rest were  either exiled or died in prison. Their heroism, though, was not as celebrated as the GomBurZa, although Naguenos would commemorate their martyrdom. The monument at Plaza Quince Martires was formally dedicated on November 30, 1923.

The Bicolanos are deeply religious and their fervent faith an interesting phenomenon. Which is why I am not surprised that the churches are teeming with parishioners, especially every Sunday. The San Francisco Church is one of the many churches the faithful devoted flock to pray, especially during Sundays. Established in 1575, the church was a witness to centuries of Bicolano religiosity that continues into the present.

Another must visit religious destination is the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral, which is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Caceres. The first church was established after the creation of the archdiocese as the Diocese of Cáceres in 1595. The present cathedral was built in 1808, and was completed and consecrated in 1843. Its Romanesque ornamentation adds to its imposing appeal, while the noticeably huge arcades and columns inside the cathedral ensures that the church would stand earthquakes that usually rock this part of the Philippines.

The most identifiable proof of the Bicolanos’ depth of faith is their devotion to the Lady of Peñafrancia, which they affectionately call "Ina." The Blessed Virgin of Peñafrancia has long been venerated in Salamanca, Spain, and a priest brought a replica of her image to Naga from Spain over 300 years ago after he was miraculously healed by the image.  Attestations of the Virgin’s many miracles have attraction millions of faithful who travel to venerate the shrine every year. By 1655, the annual festival celebrated in the Virgin’s honor was attracting more devotees than the shrine could handle, so it was decided to take the image to the bigger Naga Cathedral for her feast day.

This annual ritual of transfer is known as the Translacion. The route begins at the shrine to the cathedral every second Saturday of September. The Virgin is accorded pomp and enthusiasm  with all-male retinues escorting the image. Legend has it that bad luck comes when women are let to join the Translacion. The festival, though, has seen its share of tragedy. Twice, in the 1650s and again in 1973, too much spectators caused the overloaded bridge collapse. The 1973 tragedy claimed 138 lives.

A novena is held every day nine days before the feast day. On the first day of the novena, the image of the Virgin, a replica of the Madonna in Peñafrancia, Spain, is taken from the shrine to the Naga Cathedral after which the novena commences. The image is returned to her shrine following the Naga River route on the ninth day. The procession is illuminated by the thousands of candles held by the followers riding boats as they escort the image. When they finally reached the destination, the faithful would shout "Viva la Virgen" (Long live the Virgin!) and the image is carried back in a procession to the cathedral. Millions of Bicolanos will once again show to the whole Christian world their strong faith and loyalty to their Heavenly Mother.

A multicolored pagoda which bears the images of the Virgin of Peñafrancia and the Divino Rostro traverses the Bicol River. The male devotees, already sunburnt by the this time, would join the images in the huge pagoda in their most devoted way they can to send her off back to her home shrine at the Basilica. Upon her arrival, a throng of religious devotees would welcome her, together with the Roman Catholic dignitaries of the Bicol Region.

The Bicolanos’ religiosity best explains their temperance despite the calamities that strike it year by year. Faith has seen them through and as disasters hit them time and again, the Bicolanos have their subtle way of suffering and enduring in silence knowing that the Virgin of the Penafrancia will make them live for another day. 

Book Review—Alice Steinbach’s Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman

The concept of slow travel had not yet been probably coined when Alice Steinbach decided to spend a year in Europe, but here’s a book that epitomizes the beauty of lived experiences, of escaping your comfort zones and discovering that inside you lies a person that’s waiting to be freed. Alice Steinbach definitely mastered that craft as she spent almost a year in four different countries to encounter brand new experiences that enabled her to emerge with new perspectives.

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Women has become a classic travel memoir that aspiring travel writers should emulate. Here, Pulitzer winning Steinbach chronicles her European journey after taking a nine-month off from her job as a journalist at The Baltimore Sun.

Alice was a self-professed independent woman and I think she was adamant of living up to that image. “For years I’d made my own choices, paid my own bills, shoveled my own snow,” she wrote. But does independence mean only being physically free to do as the body wills? The author, perhaps, pondered and realized there’s more! “I had fallen into the habit of defining myself in terms of who I was to other people and what they expected of me.” And so, off to Europe she went, to chase liberty, to run after herself.

Her sojourn led her to some of the most beautiful places in the world: Paris, London, Oxford, Venice, to name a few. Alice Steinbach took the company of Freya Stark with her. The British Italian explorer and travel writer was an inspiration to Alice and many times the author referred to one of Freya's books, whenever she felt lonely and needed to ignite the zest to continue.

In Paris she started her travel, feeling dismayed and anxious. Explorer’s remorse, perhaps? She came to terms with herself as she progressed in her museum trips, shop exploration, and frequent visits to cafés and restaurants. Then, she met a Japanese man named Naohiro and the two became lovers—parting ways for the meantime, then meeting once more somewhere else.

But whether Naohiro was around or not, Alice ventured on her own. Her writings delved on her inward travels and travails and in the book, she would narrate part of her past (her divorce, for example) and “musings on aging, intimacy, her two grown sons and the purpose of work,” as Janet Rae Brooks wrote.

Along the way, she met people and the book is sprinkled by tales of their stories and how Alice connected with them. In Milan, for example, she enjoyed some time with a charming American on the verge of marriage. Steinbach would tell shopkeepers she was her daughter, while the American would refer to Alice as her mother. Then, in Asolo, where Freya Stark died, she joined two “patrician” travelers as they toured Villa Barbaro.

It took me seven months to finish reading Steinbach’s memoir, the longest I have spent with one book so far. The impact became sentimental as I neared the end. Every day I would read one chapter after another, slowly, soulfully. I enamored myself with Steinbach’s vividness in describing the people she met, places she’d been too, and experiences she’d encountered and recounted. I loved it when she described Seine as “silvery and serpentine, it moved like mercury through the center of the city, a mesmerizing force”; of Naohiro as “slim, attractive, elegantly dressed completely in black except for a white sweater thrown across his shoulders”; and  that one night in Venice when the “moon… glowed silver through the fog, like light shining to the eyes.”

Steinbach’s deftness in writing evokes a romantic appeal. Without Reservations made me realize that to travel is not only to satiate the eyes and senses, but also to unleash our hidden potentials and aspirations. Traveling goes beyond what the eyes can see or what our feet can tread, but on how much the experiences pierce through the soul and mark a positive effect on our being. This work is worth reading again and again, a perfect partner when you’re bound to explore Europe, with or without reservations. 

Reaching Out in Ganzon, Jamindan, Capiz

Last February I decided to go to a remote school on the mountains of Jamindan. The purpose was to give books to Manuel Ganzon Advincula Elementary School. It’s totally a different world. Children were shy yet unaffected by what we city dwellers see as bareness in their existence. For them, nature makes them abundant and so I think. I believe there is an eagerness in them to learn but for some reasons, like the lack of learning materials, the need to help their parents at work and their isolation, education becomes just a secondary or even a tertiary priority.

Notes on Holy Week the Capiznon Way

Holy Week manifests the fervent faith of Roman Catholic Filipinos on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is heavily embedded in the history, culture, and way of life of the locals, one that is difficult to part with. It is the lasting imprint of over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule. Capiznons to be specific, take Holy Week to heart seriously.  Aside from Christmas and All Saints’ Day, Holy Week sees family reunite for after its sobriety follows the celebration in Easter.

Palm Sunday

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday or Mierkules Badlis, where the faithful receives anointment of ash on the forehead. The ash comes from burnt palm and coconut leaves blessed by the priest from the previous year’s Palm Sunday or Lukay-Lukay. Palm Sunday commemorates the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem. The Capiznons would celebrate Lukay-Lukay by the distribution of coconut (as substitute to palm) leaves. However, I observe that the event has become commercialized endeavor already. Outside the church line dozens of vendors on the street, convincing, sometimes begging, churchgoers to buy their lukay. Parishioners think of this as convenient enough for them, so they would not have to make their own lukay but simply buy one and get it blessed by the priest. 

The lukay is typically designed to look like a cross or a fancier version of a palm leaf. I remember when I was younger my grandmother would make lukay and bring it with us to the church. After the High Mass, the priest would bless them as the churchgoers would raise them up. Tradition has it that these sacred leaves have the power to ward off evil spirit. Local shamans (herbolaryo or albolaryo) would use this during the buok, a ceremony performed when an albularyo diagnoses an individual to be suffering from ailments caused by evil spells. It involves exposing that patient to the smoke emitted by the burnt lukay and other ingredients prescribed by the albularyo.

 Maundy Thursday

The day begins with a mass at the Cathedral attended not only by the parishioners but by the parish priests, too, who renew their vows in this time of the year. When afternoon comes, the last mass before Easter is celebrated. The highlight is the reenactment of the Washing of the Feet of the Twelve Apostles. This is followed by the procession of the Blessed Sacrament before it is finally laid in the Altar of Repose. After this, locals would start their Visita Iglesia or Church Visit. Usually, Capiznons would see seven churches to pray at each Altar of Repose.

Good Friday

There are parishioners who would embark on their Visita Iglesia on Good Friday, while there are those who would go on Via Cruces or the Way of the Cross in the morning. In the midday, the Siete Palabras or the Seven Last Words of Jesus would be spoken in the churches. At 3 pm, the Mass of the Presanctified is held and when dusk arrives, so the procession begins. Everyone from all walks of life would converge and lining up right after the carozza (carriage) of their choice. The procession of the passion of the Christ showcases well-adorned saints, usually decades old, followed by parishioners with lighted candles as they say the rosary.

Black Saturday and Easter Sunday

Frenzied pace is usually absent on Black Saturday to give way for the renewed life on Easter. It begins in the wee hours of the dawn, around 3 am, when a procession commemorating the resurrection of Christ is held. A mass is held afterwards to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. Christ is alive and so life resumes to its normal ways. Noticeably, families would head to the beach, while some would spend the day drinking and merrymaking until they drop drunk by the afternoon. It is usual that after two or three days of repentance and abstinence the old habit that never dies resumes,habits that too many of our brothers and sisters find difficult to break.

Holy Weeks shows us what fervent faith, or at least religiosity, do churchgoers have! But to whom do we really place our faith? To the coconut and palm leaves? To the flowers adorning the pasos we quickly snatch after every procession? To the well-adorned saints? Or to Him who was crucified to save us all? Ponder upon this. Beyond the tradition, the essence of Holy Week is to commemorate the sacrifices of Jesus Christ who so loved us and yearned to save us that He offered His life to cleanse us all from sins.