Friday, May 17, 2013

Balik-tanaw: Pistang Obando 1894

Sa aklat na Yesterdays in the Philippines na inilathala noong 1898, inilarawan ng Amerikanong si Joseph Earle Stevens ang kanyang karanasan sa pagpunta sa Obando  noong taong 1894sa kapistahan ng kanilang tatlong patron: San Pascual Baylon, Santa Clara at Virgen ng Salambao. Partikular na binigyang-diin ni Stevens ang pagsasayaw ng mga namamanata roon bilang isang paraan ng kanilang panata, mapa-lalaki, babae, bata, matanda, ama o ina man. 


Fiesta of Obando 1894

Bayluhan sa loob ng simbahan ng Obando ca. '30s
Several days ago, a number of us went up the railroad line to see a “fiesta" at a little village called Obando. It was a religious observance lasting three days, and pilgrims from many villages thought it their duty to go there on foot. A great dingy old church with buttressed walls yards thick, a large plaza shaded by big trees, and beyond, on all sides, the native houses. Such a crowd I have rarely seen. Everybody seemed to think it his duty to dance; and men, women, old men and children, mothers with babies and papas with kids, shouted, jumped around, danced, joggled each other and rumpussed about until they were blue in the face, dripping with heat, and covered with dust. Then they would stop and another crowd takes up the play. As the circus proceeded, the crowds increased; the old church was packed with worshippers who brought candles and receiving a blessing, spent an hour or so on the stone pavements in positions of contrite humility. Around the walls of the church were placed realistic paintings of the chromo order, representing hell and the river Styx, and as the natives looked at portraits of devils driving nails into the heads of the tormented, of sulphurous flames that licked the cheeks of the wicked in this world, or serpents that twined themselves into square knots around the chests of a dozen unfortunates, and of countless homed demons who plucked out the heartstrings of the condemned, they counted their beads with renewed vigor and mumbled long prayers. Countless little booths stood like mushrooms round about outside, and cheap jewelry, made in Germany, found ready sale. The dancing and shouting increased as the sun sank in the west, until the ground fairly shook and the dust arose in vast clouds. Around the edge of the church, under the porticoes, slept sections of the multitude who were preparing themselves to take part in the proceedings when others were tired out. It was a motley crowd, a motley scene, and an unforgettable collection of perfumes.


Ang pista sa Obando ay ipinagdiriwang taun-taon tuwing ika-17, 18 at 19 ng Mayo. Sa kasamaang palad, nabomba ang simbahan noong Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig at kasama ang orihinal na imahen ng mga patron na nasira o nawala. Pansamantalang naitigil ang pagsasayaw noong dekada '70s dahil ito raw ay hindi nakaayon sa liturhiya. Bulong-bulungan daw noon na palihim na umiindak pa rin ang mga namamanata tuwing sila ay bumibisita sa Obando. Salamat sa Diyos at muling naibalik ang tradisyon ng pagsasayaw sa Obando.

Halina sa bayang ito kung saan ang bawat indak at kahilingan, bawat galaw ay pasasalamat at ang bawat imbay ay panalangin.

17 ng Mayo, 2013
Malinta, Lungsod ng Valenzuela

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing, Rob! Obando Church's interior must have been an awesome sight, particularly the paintings of hell and purgatory. Thankfully, we can sort of glean what those paintings must have looked like from the engravings of Ysidro Paulino that bear the same subject matters.

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  2. There's a new fresco painted on Obando's arco toral depicting heaven and hell instead.

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  3. What is the full name of the author's?

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