For a change, I woke up at 7 am but stayed in bed for two more hours before getting out of it. I was forced to because my cleaning lady arrived early to do our laundry and clean my tiny house.
It was already 5 pm when Twin I and I went out of the house to buy cat litter. That’s how lazy we are today.
Just as we left our compound, we encountered the Santacruzan to end at the church. So that’s where the marching band sound and firecrackers came from 😂 While I was getting ready to go out I could hear them, thinking that there was a funeral procession going out of the church. It totally escaped my mind that this is the Flores de Mayo season—the whole month of May celebrated by the Catholic Church as a devotion to the Virgin Mary. It culminates in the Santacruzan.
The tradition of the Santacruzan is a semi-religious one but it’s mostly a beauty pageant of sorts in the local barangays. In the olden days, it is the only time the conservative mamas are able to show off their beautiful hijas to the public.
It is said to be a commemoration of St. Helen’s search for the Holy Cross. The queen (a.k.a. Reina Emperatriz or empress) is the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor. So normally, the Reina Elena in the Santacruzan is accompanied by a boy in white, representing little Constantine. The Reina carries a small cross throughout the procession, which she will have blessed by the priest once they reach the church. More often than not, the one chosen to be the year’s Reina Elena is usually the prettiest girl in the barangay, but it has evolved into whoever is the daughter of the rich or politically connected.
I had been a sagala (a girl participant in the Santacruzan) with my younger sister as one of the angels when we were in elementary, years before we moved inside the university campus. In those days, we were deep in barangay activities—we were pretty social with our neighbors.
When I was in high school, we always had our summer vacations in our parents’ hometown in Batangas. One summer vacation, I was invited to be a sagala but I don’t remember accepting the invite because I didn’t know where to get the ball gown and I didn’t want to be fussed over since I think I would have been one of the reinas. I certainly didn’t want to be Reina Elena and be the center of attention. I didn’t know if I was invited because I was pretty or because I was a new face in town.
I also remember when we were kids, my father often brought us to my paternal grandma during Flores de Mayo so we all can offer flowers to the Virgin Mary. The old church (where I was baptized) had a procession of flower girls and my grandma (actually, both of my grandmas were devotees of the Virgin Mary) would join us in the procession of flowers.
It’s kinda sad that my girls didn’t get to grow up with these old traditions because they grew up in Metro Manila. When Twin I and I encountered the Santacruzan, she asked, what’s that?! Not that I want them to be steeped in Catholic traditions but I just want them to know about these as part of the colorful Filipino culture.
May is the month of festivals in the Philippines. There are a lot of fiestas celebrated this month, especially since it is was the last month of the dry season, a time of harvest and plenty. The last month before the rainy season starts. But because of climate change, the seasons have gone haywire and we have super typhoons ruining our fiestas.
