Crowds gather around a religious image at the Penafrancia fiesta in Caceres Archdiocese in Naga City in the Philippines. This year's procession was canceled due to quarantine restrictions. (Photo supplied)
Former Manila archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales once said that Filipinos only eat once a day. "We start in the morning. We finish in the evening,” the cardinal said in one of his homilies.
Cardinal Rosales was referring to the Filipinos' love for celebrations and festivities, mostly related to feasts of their patron saints in the Catholic Church. They seize every opportunity to gather relatives and friends if there is good reason for a party.
Oct. 1 is the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. The next day is the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. Every parish has a patron saint that has a feast according to the Catholic Church’s calendar.
Among the most popular forms of celebrating are fiestas, a Spanish word for feast but used to describe large gatherings and celebrations. It describes festivities that Filipinos inherited from a rich Spanish tradition.
As a Catholic country, religious celebrations are mixed with Spanish tradition in honoring patron saints in every province and city. This means that every Filipino parish and community celebrate its own fiesta according to the feast of its patron saint.
Fiestas are usually celebrated with novena Masses, parades and even beauty pageants. Novena came from the Latin word “novem” (nine), which later became a traditional and devotional prayer for saints before their actual feast days.
On the fiesta itself, families prepare favorite Filipino dishes for invited (and non-invited) guests. Families go to their parish church to attend processions, usually with a marching band.
Every celebration culminates with the Mass. And after attending church activities, families go back to their homes for lunch or salo-salo — family members eating together.
Visitors from other villages or parishes arrive and the host family entertain them with stories and a sumptuous meal.
But now that quarantine protocols are in place, Filipinos have changed their way of celebrating fiestas and feasts.
The feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary-La Naval de Manila is celebrated every second Sunday in October. Its novena Masses and processions are usually attended by thousands of devotees of the Holy Mother marching along the busy streets of Manila, together with an image of the Our Lady of La Naval.
Church authorities have already announced that there will be no procession or public Mass. In fact, Philippine dioceses have already canceled visits to cemeteries on All Souls’ Day and other similar public religious gatherings.
The coronavirus may have stopped Filipinos from going to church and celebrate fiestas but the virus will never take away their faith.
Filipino devotees of the Blessed Mother have turned to the internet for novena prayers and Masses. Livestreamed Masses have been held every day by clergymen to make God’s presence felt.
One of the things the pandemic has brought to Filipino Catholics is new ways to practice their devotion.
Before Covid-19 struck, Filipinos needed to touch the image of their favorite patron saint. Now it is hard for them to go inside their parish church. The pandemic has taught churchgoers to have faith beyond superstition — without touching a statue or joining a public procession.
Religious composer David Haas wrote, “Without seeing you, we love you. We without touching you, we embrace. Without knowing you, we follow. Without seeing you, we believe.”
The pandemic has taught Filipinos to maintain their devotion to the Blessed Mother without touching her image and without joining any procession in her honor.
Covid-19 has changed the Filipino concept of devotion. From wiping images with handkerchiefs and touching them with their hands, the pandemic has made a people’s faith firm and steadfast with prayer and solitude.
During this time, Filipinos and all churchgoers around the world are called to return to the depths of their hearts and believe that what matters are not external manifestations of faith but what lies within.