Folk Art

I remember old Mays. The smell of grass freshly mowned. Gathering wildflowers and putting them on amber colored medicine bottles for the afternoon alay. Waiting for the first rain after the long hot months and bathing under the rain believing it will bring good health for the rest of the year. That was before acid rain ruin the whole ritual.

May marks the middle of summer. Bored because you miss school but not too bored to go back to school. It's the time when summer romances reach their peak oblivious of the coming end of vacation when lovers fall apart as one leaves for the city for college and the other stays at home. It is also the time for visiting the old watepools after the rain. Swimming naked in cold muddy fresh water. Lying lazily under the cool afternoon sun. Watching sunsets while munching on stolen riped mangoes.

Back then adventures were spontaneous. It was what you can think of at the spur of the moment.

The highlight of each summer is the Santacruzan. It brings the whole community together like a fiesta. Called "Tapusan" it marks the end of the month long daily rosary prayed in makeshift chapels or altars under stairs of old houses. The mornings are filled with games like the palo sebo, sack races, rigodillo and when people can't get enough even "paramihan ng ihi" done peeing in a coke bottle with the one peeing the most winning the prize.

Afternoons are used to decorate the carroza with the image of the Virgin Mary surrounded by lights and fresh flowers. The young women dress into gowns and embellished with props to make a costumy representation of characters in the Bible. Infanta Judith, Reyna Sentenciada, Reyna Mora, Reyna de las flores, Reyna Elena, Emperatriz - the whole thing seems redundant because St. Helena was actually the empress. Anyway usually this was done just to appease and give titles to the beautiful women in the community or the most moneyed for that matter.

At night after the procession of sagalas with the carroza and a marching band, people troop to the house of the hermana mayor where dinner is served. A makeshift stage is set-up and entertainment ranges from an amateur singing contest usually attended by the likes of Regine Velasquez, a variety show of bands and circus acts and in more affluent communities, has been or struggling actors doing their "out of town shows." The show usually estend into the wee hours of the morning or until no one is left to watch the show. The moneyed class take turns in sponsoring the event and is thus marred with the politics of granduer and envy.

These have taken away the meaning of the execise which was supposed to be a communities reenactment of the search for the true cross. As fiesta frenzied people, each year was marked with more extravagant events, until people run out of money in the nineties less and less summer chapels were built. Simpler processions and shows have replaced the gaudy and deafening shrieking singing contests. And people learn to truly appreciate what it was about.

There are still those who fashion the procession into fashion shows as what they did in the 1994 Ms. Universe and likewise several events in the country. But taking away the meaning of the ritual actually makes the whole thing fall flat.

The pictures are of folk art representations of the different images of Mary. All with latin flavors. Usually a half foot each. We don't have Santacruzans here. I am now suspicious if its origin is of Spanish extract. But I have to clear my doubts knowing Filipinos it must really be copied from somewhere.