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Obando Fertility Rites
The Obando Fertility Rites are a Filipino dance ritual. Every year during the month of May, to the tune of musical instruments made out of bamboo materials, the men, women and children of Obando, Bulacan, Philippines wear traditional dance costumes to dance on the streets followed by the images of their patron saints San Pascual Baylon (St. Paschal), Santa Clara (St. Clare) and Nuestra Señora de Salambao (Our Lady of Salambao), while singing the song Santa Clara Pinung-Pino.

Festivities

Among the fiesta participants in the fertility dance are outsiders from other towns in the Philippines; most are asking the patron saints for a son or a daughter, a husband or a wife or good fortune. They are all dancing on the streets as a form of a religious procession primarily in order for the spirit of life to enter into the wombs of women. This is the magic and mystery of Obando, Bulacan.

The feast days or dance festivals are held for three consecutive days: May 17 for St. Paschal, May 18 for St. Claire and May 19 for the Our Lady of Salambaw.

The Philippine national hero, José Rizal, mentioned this fertility dance ritual in his 1887 Spanish novel, Noli Me Tangere (Chapter 6: Captain Tiago).

The Feast usually starts in the morning of May 17, with the mass of the current Parish Priest. Afterwards, the procession of the three Saints will follow, followed by the dancing of the devotees and the musical band. This continues for the duration of the festival, with the image of the particular Patron Saint of the day leading the procession.

History

The ancient Filipinos once held a ritual known as the Kasilonawan headed by a katalonan or high priestess. The ritual normally lasts for nine days and usually involves drinking, singing and dance, and is normally held at the home of a datu or barangay chieftain. This ritual became important to early Filipinos because they value of fertility that could also mean wealth or abundance of every individual person. A barren woman was once considered as a member of the lowest class in Philippine society and suffered stigma and mockery. Because of this reason, it became important to perform the fertility rites so that the women could become productive. The god known as Linga, a force of nature, became the center of the Kasilonawan ritual.

The community would congregate to perform these rituals usually in a clearing of some kind in the middle of a dense forest with some sort of earth-oriented and artistic phallic symbol displayed in the center of the clearing. The lights of strategically placed, ritualistic fires would shine on this structure and it was thought that the sun, giver of all life embodied in the fires, was giving its blessing of fertility to all who participated in the rituals.

Upon the arrival of the Franciscan missionaries to the Philippines, they built churches to propagate Christianity and introduced Catholic saints. In Obando, Bulacan, the Spanish Franciscans introduced a trio or a triangle of saints, namely St. Claire, St. Pascual and the Our Lady of Salambao in order to replace the traditional pagan gods.

The current images at the altar of Obando Church are replicas, sculpted with the financial assistance of the people of Obando. The originals were destroyed during World War II.

The patron saints

Saint Clare

St. Clare is the oldest patron saint of Obando, Bulacan. She was the first saint to be enshrined at the chapel built by the Franciscan missionaries in Catanghalan, the old name of Obando Town.

St. Clare was a nun in Assisi, Italy during the 13th century, who founded a congregation known as the Poor Clares based on the devotional teachings of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Clare has been considered as the patron saint of good weather because her name in Spanish meant the brightening of the skies after a season of storms, which later became the basis why the residents of Obando, Bulacan believed in offering eggs at the base of the altar of St. Clare to pray for good weather. Eggs are offered to St. Claire because her name also meant claro (albumen) in Spanish.

The introduction of St. Clare by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries as a replacement for the pagan gods of the ancient Filipinos resulted in the transformation of the old Kasilonawan ritual into the offering of the fandango or dance for St. Clare to prevent women from becoming barren. This transformation from pagan rituals to Christian ceremonies enhanced the conversion of Filipinos to Catholicism.

Eventually, St. Clare became the pilgrim’s patron saint of an individual who would like to request for a mate and to bear children, female babies in particular.

Lyrics of the song or novena to St. Clare

  • In Tagalog: Santa Clarang pinong-pino / Ako po ay bigyan mo / Ng asawang labintatlo / Sa gastos ay walang reklamo!
  • English translation: (To the very refined Saint Clare / I pray that you grant me / Thirteen spouses all in all / To the expenses, he won’t complain!)

  • Variation, in Tagalog: Santa Clarang pinong-pino / Ang pangako ko ay ganito / Pagdating ko sa Obando / Sasayaw ako ng pandanggo.
  • English translation: (To the very refined Saint Clare / This is my promise / Upon reaching Obando Town / I will dance the fandango.}

St. Paschal

During the 18th century, after the founding of Obando, Bulacan as a Spanish Municipality, the Franciscan missionaries built a church. At that time St. Paschal, or San Pascual Baylon, was introduced to Obando, Bulacan. Like St. Clare, he also became the patron saint of fertility, wealth and abundance. St. Paschal’s surname, Baylon, meant a person who likes dancing, after having been derived from the Spanish word bailar.

There is an anecdote about the miracles of St. Paschal. The Obando story narrates that there was a childless couple from a neighboring town known as Hagonoy, Bulacan, who met a man who sells crabs. That man invited the couple to go to Obando, Bulacan, to participate in the mid-May dance ritual. And when the husband and wife finally did visit the Obando Church, they were stunned when they discovered that the face of the image of St. Paschal inside the church looked exactly like the face of the crab vendor they met.

St. Paschal also became as a patron saint for having children, particularly male babies.

Our Lady of Salambao

On June 19, 1763, the Our Lady of Salambao, also known as the Our Lady of Immaculate Concepcion, was also introduced to Obando, Bulacan. Based on an Obando legend, three fishermen namely Juan, Julian and Diego dela Cruz caught the image of the Virgin Mary with their salambaw, a fishing net supported with bamboo crosspieces and mounted on a raft, while fishing at a place known as Hulingduong, Binwangan at the town of Tambobong or Malabon. When the fishermen decided to bring the image of the Virgin Mary to a neighboring town known as Navotas, their fishing boat became heavy and couldn’t be paddled towards Navotas. But they eventually decided to bring the image of the Virgin Mary toward Obando; their fishing boat quickly lightened and became easy to paddle. Thus, the image of the Our Lady of Salambao was added to the altar of the church of Obando, Bulacan.

The Our Lady of Salambao eventually became the patron saint of fishermen and good harvest.

Revival after World War II

During World War II, the church and a large portion of Obando Town was ruined by fire including the three images of the patron saints. A few years after the war, the archbishop of Manila and an Obando parish priest forbid the practice of the fertility dance because of its obviously pagan roots. During the time of this prohibition, normal religious processions were still being held but without the lively street dancing.

However, in 1972, a new parish priest in the name of Rev. Fr. Rome R. Fernandez and the Komisyon ng Kalinangan or Commission on Culture of Obando finally revived the once sleeping tradition.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links and further readings

See also

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Last updated on Monday October 06, 2008 at 20:26:49 PDT (GMT -0700)
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