'Dungaw' - Mary looks at the Nazarene from the San Sebastian balcony

The Nuestra Senora del Carmen in her niche at the altar (left), before she was brought up to the balcony (top right),
and as she looked out to see the Nazareno, the 'dungaw' (below right).

In a story I wrote for the weekly FilAm Star of San Francisco, CA on 21 January 2014, I mentioned that the 'dungaw' tradition of the Recollects revived during the 'traslacion' of the Itim na Nazareno that year.

For the first time, the Basilica opened its doors this year to the public to view the 'dungaw' from the bell towers and balconies. It used to be exclusive for the media.

My Dungaw pass to the balcony of the Basilica.

In a way, the 'dungaw' was invitational. We failed to register online for slots in the viewing areas but we hoped for a chance when we went to the office of the San Sebastian Basilica Conservation and Development Foundation on 'traslacion' day. Thanks to the graciousness of the the project officers, we were able to join the 'exclusive' viewing group.

The Nazarene procession from the Quirino grandstand to Quiapo church took 22 hours this year with thousands of barefoot devotees, male and female, jostling their way to hold on to the rope for pulling the carroza of the venerated image, or to clamber onto the andas to touch the image or the cross.

Taken from the balcony as the 'traslacion' passes by on its way to Quiapo church.

The frenzy of the devotees was tempered briefly when the Nazareno, coming from Hidalgo St., paused at the Plaza del Carmen. The image of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Nuestra Senora del Carmen) came out to the balcony of the San Sebastian Basilica to 'look' at her son. Prayers were said, and the anthems to the Lady and the Nazareno were sang, the devotees singing along and waving their white towelettes.

This is the 'dungaw' (Filipino for looking out), a representative image of Mary's encounter with her son Jesus on his way to Calvary, one of the stations of the cross of the Roman Catholics.

Both images are around 400 years old, both of Mexican origin, that the Recoletos brought to the Philippines. The firs mission of the order comprising 14 religious arrived in Manila in 1606. It is said that the Nazareno came also that year,

The Catalogo de los Religiosos Agustinos Recoletos (Sadaba, 1906) tells us that the image of the Nuestra Senora del Carmen arrived with Mission III comprising five Recoleto fathers in 1618. Fray Rodrigo de San Miguel brought it from Mexico.

Fray San Miguel was with the first mission. He exercised his sacred ministry in Bataan and Zambales, which established missions in Mariveles, Subic and Masinloc.

He went back to Spain in July 1614 and sailed back in July 1617 as Commissar and President of the third mission, arriving in Manila in 1618. He held the post of Vicar Provincial of the order until 1622.

In 1621, he founded the convent of San Sebastian outside Manila where the image of the Nuestra Senora del Carmen that he brought from Mexico was enshrined for veneration. Fray Rodrigo also founded the ministries of Cebu and of Caraga in Mindanao.

The Recoletos are celebrating the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the Nuestra Senora del Carmen this year. Events are expected to be announced soon.


Reference:

• Available from Google Books: Francisco Sadaba del Carmen. 1906. Catalogo del los Religiosos Agustinos Recoletos de la Provincia de San Nicolas de Tolentino de Filipinas. Madtid: Imprenta del Asilo de Huerfanos del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus.

Quiapo fiesta of the Santo Jesus (Black Nazarene) in the 1800s

Dibujo [DIB158412] of the Quiapo Church from the album of paintings titled Vistas de las islas Filipinas y trages (sic) de sus abitantes (sic) by Jose Honorato Lozano in 1847. [Source:  Biblioteca Nacional de Espana]

Let us imagine ourselves on the tile roof of a gentry house east of the Quiapo church in 1847, probably in the vicinity of the Muslim mosque today, just like what Filipino painter Jose Honorato Lozano did when he painted the Yglesia parroquial de Quiapo (above). 

We are also looking at the solemn traslacion of the Santo Jesus (the Black Nazarene in our language today), the image mounted on an andas, as it is about to enter the church.  There's a big but orderly crowd in the church square -- now called Plaza Miranda -- watching the procession in celebration of the feast day of the patron saint of Quiapo.  The clergy follow the image under a canopy (we don't see this anymore except during the procession of the Holy Sacrament on Maundy Thursday), and a brass band provides the religious music for this rite. 

Lozano tells us that the women who devoutly join the procession wear a lambong or a black mantle and carry lighted candles.  He doesn't say how the men dress up for the Quiapo fiesta although he informs that generally in every town fiesta or Pintacasi that usually lasts three days, the men wear their shirts over their trousers. He adds that everyone like musicians, cantors and altar boys, and those involved in church functions wear their reverent best during the occasion.  By the way, the painter says that aside from music and other festivities, the cockpits are open.  Today, we can't imagine the menfolk engrossed in cockfighting during the Quiapo event.

The original Itim na Nazareno (Black Nazarene) encased in glass, which we were able to photographed with permission from the church authorities.  It gets exposed only during the traslacion on 09 January.

Today, the procession started after the 6 o'clock morning mass from the Quirino grandstand.  With the reported initial crowd of half-a-million devotees, dominantly barefoot, yellow or maroon-shirted male, trying to get a hold of the rope tied to the andas, or mount it to touch the image, the procession probably would finally get inside the Quiapo church around midnight, just like last year.

Women carry the andas during the procession of Nazarene replicas on 07 Jan, 2013.

The women don't wear lambongs anymore; they wear pants or shorts and the yellow or maroon t-shirts. Nor do they carry lighted candles.  They now dare to get to the ropes or to climb over the heads of the male devotees to get on to the andas briefly and touch the image.

There are several replicas of the Black Nazarene around the Quiapo church for devotees.  One is the centerpiece of the altar, and there is an entry door on the Quiapo Blvd. side for those who want to kiss a foot of the image (the pahalik) behind the altar.  The exit leads to the room where the original Black Nazarene can be seen through a glass enclosure, and it can't be touched or kissed.  Hence, the frenzy that attends the traslacion today as the original gets exposed for adoration!

Reference:

Lozano, Jose Honorato.  (1847).  Vistas de las islas Filipinas y trages (sic) de sus abitantes (sic).  Retrieved from the Biblioteca Digital Hispanica of the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana at

http://bibliotecadigitalhispanica.bne.es:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3808315&custom_att_2=simple_viewer