Marian procession as typhoon Hagupit threatened

Aftermath of Hagupit in Catbalogan, Samar village.
Photo by Rommel L. Rotor.

Its international name was Filipino for whiplash; thus, “Hagupit” already invoked sharp excruciating pain when this typhoon was forecast to surpass the ferocity of Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan that claimed thousands of lives in Eastern Visayas last year.  Fortunately, when it became “Ruby” inside the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), it weakened as it made several landfalls starting in Samar.

The alerts on possible flash floods, landslides and storm surges went out as Hagupit/Ruby moved towards the Eastern Visayas.  Most threatened were the Samar provinces. The Public Storm Warning Signal (PSWS) escalated from number 2 to 3 from December 4 to around midnight of the 5th. 

Catarman, Samar folks crossing flood waters.
Photo by Gabriel Nabong Caalim.

Certainly, the victims of Yolanda are still suffering, and many prayers could have been said for the typhoon to dissipate before landfall or digress from its projected path so that they are spared from another traumatic experience. Definitely, government went on full preparation, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Council (NDRRMC) mobilized all counterparts in the local governments to avoid a Yolanda scenario, and President Benigno Aquino III warned that he would be unforgiving for any failure unless it’s force majeure.

Morning of the 5th, our friend Charo, fellow history researcher and netizen from Samar, posted that she was packing her archival documents and books in plastic for storage, hoping that no storm surge will reach them. Their house in Catbalogan is about 40 meters from the sea, and they would be evacuating to a safer house far from the coast.

Procession passing by replica of Spanish-era house.

Signal #3 remained hoisted over the Samar provinces on the 6th. Charo posted that the authorities went house to house that morning in their area for forced evacuation.  She said that all 17 evacuation centers of Catbalogan were packed, all hotels fully booked, and the churches and convents were also occupied by evacuees, some coming from Borongan town and the islets of Rama, Cinco, Bagongon,Darahuwat, Basiao, Mahaba and other coastal barangays as early as Friday. According to her, even in Dolores, Eastern Samar, where landfall was expected that evening, people from the islets fronting the town were also in the evacuation centers.

For sure, residents of Metro Manila monitored Hagupit/Ruby through the PAGASA Weather Bulletins, social media postings and the TV weather reports. 

The typhoon was hardly felt on the 6th.  Even then, many prayers could have been said for the protection of communities under siege by the fierce winds and heavy rains of Hagupit/Ruby. It can be said that the Marian devotees included pleadings that the procession of the 7th honoring the  Blessed Virgin Mary in Intramuros, Manila be not spoiled by rains.

Hooded Marian procession participants.

On Sunday, December 7, signal number 3 over the Samar provinces reduced to #2 late in the afternoon when Hagupit hit Masbate.  

Netizens posted that the Catbalogan City DRRMC and Coast Guard confirmed that there was no storm surge in the city, that there was flooding but this was caused by the extremely heavy rains. The posts also identified coastal and island municipalities of Samar that were hit hard: Talalora, Sta. Rita, Villareal, Zumarraga and Daram where majority of houses were completely damaged. 

From our friends Facebook posts, we learned that the small town of Dolores survived the biggest typhoon so far that had hit the area although there were three casualties. The mayor of Daram had a more detailed report from 46 barangays of what had been washed out or partially/totally destroyed: farms, houses, schools, wharves, motorized boats and bancas, but there were no casualties.

Marian procession participants.

Metro Manila had gloomy skies the whole of Sunday, but no rains fell. With much rejoicing, pomp and ceremony, did the grand procession of around 90 icons and statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary went around Intramuros in celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Concepcion. 

Undaunted by the prospect of rains, thousands of Marian devotees joined the procession, many of them accompanying the popular images of the Nuestra Señora (Our Lady) with various titles from provincial towns like the Pilar of Imus, Cavite; Aranzazu of San Mateo, Rizal; Fátima of Valenzuela, Bulacan;  Ina Poon Bato of Botolan. Zambales; Divina Pastora and Soledad, both from Nueva Ecija; Salambao from Obando City, Soledad de Porta Vaga, Merced and Remedios, both from Pampanga, Casaysay from Lipa, Batangas, among many others. There were brass bands like the Obando and Pakil town bands playing anthems associated with particular icons.

It’s the large delegation from Pakil, Laguna, seemingly almost all the Catholics of the town, which has captured our admiration in the past years. Just as they do in their town during her fiesta in September, they come to sing and dance the turumba on the streets of Intramuros in honor of their Nuestra Señora de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows).

According to Pakil folklore, the first turumba dates back to 1788, and the term is derived from “natumba sa laki ng tuwa,” meaning rolling down from joy.  The first two lines of the turumba song goes:  “Turumba, turumba Mariangga, Matuwa’t tayo’y magsaya / Sumayaw sa tu-turumba, Puri sa Birheng Maria (Singing and dancing to honor the Virgin Mary).”

Five of around 90 Marian images from different parts of Luzon.

The rains came to Metro Manila on Monday, 8th December; signal number #2 was raised in the morning but reduced to #1 before midnight. The rain was moderate, and there were no accompanying gusty winds.  Tuesday, 9th December, was still wet but Hagupit/Ruby was already moving out to the West Philippine Sea.

We read from Facebook posts of the Catbalogan City mayor's post-Hagupit/Ruby statement. “Another miracle!", she said, We survived Yolanda, we survived Glenda and now we survived Ruby!”  She spoke of the city as a ship that has finally docked after a very rough journey. As ship captain, she said, she was very much fortunate and thankful that her passengers were very cooperative during that night sailing.

She could very well be speaking for all the villages, towns and cities that suffered heavily from Hagupit. They’re starting all over again, picking up the pieces with assistance from government and non-government organizations, from friends and town mates here and abroad.

No rains fell on the jubilant devotees of Mary who lit candles, sang or dance in her honor during the procession around Intramuros.

Marian Procession in Intramuros, Then & Now

Usually by the end week of November, an item appears in the papers about a Marian procession that would start from the Manila Cathedral to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which in the Roman church calendar falls on the 8th of December.  As far as we know, the procession is a moveable event, usually held on a Sunday before the feast day unless this itself falls on a weekend.

We've done photo shoots of the October La Naval de Manila in previous years, but this Marian event has always skipped our mind until last Sunday's. 

The procession was announced to start at four o'clock in the afternoon but we were suddenly called to a little business meeting in Makati around that time.  We were two hours late but with around eighty images of the Virgin Mary in procession, we suspected that we could still catch up with quite a number of carrozas or floats to capture with our digital camera.

At the Muralla gate near Letran College at around six-thirty, people were still waiting for half of the procession--forty six more carrozas, according to the police detailed there.  We walked to the Cathedral, and yes, the first batch of floats were already parked on the streets nearby, the images still lit up to the delight of camera bugs like us. 

We walked back to Muralla to wait for the other half of the procession.  We thought it would be great to shoot atop the old walls. We surmised that the delay could be due to traffic somewhere on Roxas Blvd up to the Intramuros re-entry point.  We walked toward the gate near Mapua and fronting City Hall hoping to meet the procession, but there were only four floats we saw, one of them attended to by a big costumed and dancing contingent from Orani, Bataan. We didn't wait for the rest anymore.

We don't know if the procession honoring the Immaculada Concepcion, the patroness of the Manila Cathedral, went as far as the Luneta during the Spanish regime, which was the promenade of city folks at sundown either on foot on in their carriages.

But there's an amusing vignette of the Marian procession of 1894--about quarrels--from Joseph Earle Stevens, "an ex-resident of Manila," who wrote about it in his Yesterdays in the Philippines (1899).  We deduced it was the feast of the Immaculate Conception because, first, it was in his notes between November 13 and December 23, 1894, and second, he was talking about images of the Virgin Mary:

"Last night there occurred another one of those religious torchlight processions which are so common in the streets of Old Manila. It started after sunset, inside the city walls, from a big church brightly illuminated from top to bottom with small candle-cups that gave it the appearance of a great sugar palace. The procession consisted of many richly decorated floats, containing life-size figures of saints and apostles dressed in garments of gold and purple and borne along by sweating coolies, who staggered underneath a draping that shielded from view all save their lower limbs and naked feet. The larger floats were covered with dozens of candelabra and guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets. Other rolling floats of smaller magnitude were pulled along by little children in white gowns, while troops of old maids, young maids, and Spanish women marched before and behind, dressed in black and carrying candles. The black mantillas which fell gracefully from the heads of many of the torch-bearers gave their faces a look of saint-like grace, except at such times as the evening breeze made the candle-grease refractory, and one might easily have imagined himself a spectator at a celebration in Seville. 

"Many bands all playing different tunes in different times and keys, rows of hard-faced, fat-stomached priests trying to look religious but failing completely to do so, and five hundred small boys, who, like ours at home, formed a sort of rear guard to the solemnities, all went to make up the peculiar performance. The whole long affair started from the church, wound through the narrow streets, and finally brought up at the church again, where it was saluted by fireworks and ringing of bells.

"In the balconies of the houses that almost overhung the route were smiling crowds of lookers-on, and Roman candles and Bengola lights added impressiveness to the scene, or dropped their sparks on the garments of those promenading below. As the various images of the Virgin Mary and the Descent from the Cross passed by, everyone took off his hat and appeared deeply impressed with religious feeling. After the carriers of the floats had put down for good their expensive burdens in the vestry of the church, a few liquid refreshments easily started them quarrelling as to the merits of their respective displays. One set claimed that their Descent from the Cross was more life-like than that carried by their rivals, and they almost came to blows over which of the Virgin Marys wore the finest clothes. "  

The last part tells us that there were several privately owned Descent from the Cross and Virgin Mary images.  In this 2009 procession, which of the Marys are at least a century old, and Stevens saw in 1894?

Troubles brewed over the Lady's couture?  How about the crowns? Were they as awesomely large and possibly heavy due to adornments as the ones we saw and photographed last Sunday?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note:  A group called the Cofradia de la Inmaculada Concepcion organizes the annual Marian procession, which incepted in December 1979 with 29 images.  This would be the 30th event since then.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------