Article pending. I'm still writing it.
I intially thought this "image" looked odd. It turned out to be a kid dressed as Mary!
The star cometh. Photographers rush to take shots of a richly-dressed image.
Festivities of local flavor have always been part of Marian processions in the Philippines.
My friend, Albert Domingo, and his family. They own the image of the Rosa Mystica. Like his family, many others have started joining the annual procession apart from the usual suspects and elite members of the Confradia. This is a good sign of growing devotion - as well as wealth.
Confradia members on the steps of the Cathedral.
Knights of Columbus guide an image.
The other ladies of the night. Majorettes!
A rather surreal show of inexplicable violence presage an image. I wonder what it was for. Maybe the Confradia or the Archdiocese should look into in this. It may be symbolic but it isn't humane.
Baila, baila! I suddenly had a vision of Noli's Doña Victorina when I wrote that. *shudders*
Torches announced the coming of the image of our Lady of Carmel, the one delegation that was the longest among the lot. She really has lots of devotees under this ancient title.
The image of the La Virgen del Carmen from the National Shrine in Quezon City.
Another tasteless show. I know the Aetas were converted to Christianity sooner or later but really, must we shame them in this manner? The story goes that the Aetas (stop addressing them as "the natives"; we all are natives) discovered a statue of the Inang Poong Bato half submerged in lahar after the Mount Pinatubo eruption. Since then, they have honored her this way: they lie on the ground as the image is carried above them. No problem with that but they looked rather choreographed by this one woman you see in this photo. I seriously doubt the authenticity of this practice unless someone has visual proof they actually do this in Zambales. We have to stop dehumanizing the members of our indigenous peoples and allow them to stand as equals as the rest of us. 'Nuff said.
