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Page updated:
09/21/2010 |
Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia |
Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, religious festivals in the Philippines. The festival of Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia is celebrated in mid September in Naga City, Camarines Sur. |
The 2010 festival is very special because it is the 300th year of the two remarkable processions in Naga City. Filipinos are known for both, their religious fever and their love for grandiose fiestas.
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Find hereafter the history of this festival and the pictures from the processions on 09/092010. If you want attend next year's festival, we recommend to book your flights and your hotel very early. May would not be fine, but not later. |
Brief History of Our Lady of PeñafranciaThe popular and intense devotion to this image is said to have started with a seminarian from the University of Sto. Tomas, named Miguel Robles de Covarrubias who, when he was invited by the 17th century Bishop of Nueva Caceres City, experienced and received many blessings and miracles from the Lady of Peñiafrancia. Covarrubias was ordained priest, he was assigned to Nueva Caceres and was appointed Vicar General of the Bishopric of Nueva Caceres. In gratitude maybe for his fortune with the Lady of Peñafrancia and at the same time, since he was then an official of Diocesan Chancery of Nueva Caceres, Covarrubias promoted and propagated the devotion to our Lady of Peñafrancia, himself becoming involved personally in the celebrations. His efforts and those priests after him paid off for the yearly traditional feastday of the Lady of Peñafrancia which usually falls on the third Saturday and Sunday of September, galvanized the collective piety of the Bicolanos into one united annual celebration which was highlighted by a water or fluvial procession by various groups of able-bodied men and devotees around the circuitous streets of Naga City, and then along the major route of Naga River, back to her shrine.
The Bicolanos, lofty forebears of the Ivatans, were observed and recorded through the centuries of Spanish period to have become one of the most devoted and pious Filipinos among its numerous regions. The evangelization of the provinces seemed perfectly matched with the number of conversions to the Catholic fold, for statistics at the turn of the twentieth century showed
The seat of the Archdiocese of Caceres is located in Naga City, she is the initiator of significant religious festivities that evolved from the simple devotional activity set by Fr. Covarrubias to a regional major religious fiesta. On 2010, the archdiocese celebrates the 300th year of devotion to Our Lady of Peñafrancia as she continues to be the Queen and Mother of the Bicolanos. This is attested through the countless testimonies of people, devotees and ordinary churchgoers, of having been recipients of the miracles of Our Lady of Peñafrancia which has greatly impressed the devotion upon the people year after year. The yearly “Feast of feasts” begins with a “Traslacion", i.e. the transferring of the miraculous Images of the Virgin, Our Lady of Peñafrancia and the Divine Rostro to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Naga City for a Novena of Prayers and Holy Masses.
The "Traslacion" which begun in 1885, is considered to be a very important part of the celebration, not to say festive and colourful. The "andas" of the Lady is borne on the on the shoulders of her male devotees, called the voyadores, all along the route of the procession.
In the afternoon of the 9th day of the Novena, a fluvial procession in the Naga River caps the feast. The image of Our Lady is returned to her sanctuary via the Naga River, on board a pagoda decorated with fresh flowers and colourful papers, accompanied by musicians, the religious, priests and seminarians, as the pagoda maneuvers, other bancas manned by
To the unexposed and than religious, the sight of the Pagoda, being escorted by hundreds of men and thousand more following its ascent while Today, the Peñafrancia Basilica and National Shrine at Balatas, Naga City, is the "Home" and permanent residence of the venerable original Image of the Lady of Peñafrancia, and the Divino Rostro, which were previously kept in the Shrine of Peñafrancia, located at Peñafrancia Avenue, Naga City. This original Shrine of Our is now a parish dedicated to Our Lady of Peñafrancia and has the replica of the original Image of Ina. This text is an excerpt of the Introduction that can be found in the booklet "NOVENA to the VIRGIN OF PEÑAFRANCIA". The booklet is freely distributed during the processions.
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The Traslacion Procession
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The Voyadores FestivalThe Voyadores Festival is considered to be part of the week-long Peñafrancia Festival.The festival is named after the male devotees (voyadores) who accompany and carry the Virgin's image in a procession called Traslacion for a Novena at the Metropolitan Cathedral. The image of the Lady of Peñafrancia is borne on the shoulders of her male devotees from her shrine, the Peñafrancia Basilica, to the Naga Cathedral where the image will stay for one week. But the Voyadores Festival is more joyful than the Traslacion Procession. It is full of colours and music. Sometimes one feels like in a Glenn Miller revival festival. As on Friday's Traslacion Procession the procession begun around 2 pm in an extremely hot sunshine with temperatures around 38°C (100°F). People needed umbrellas to get a bit shelter from the sunrays. But soon a big cumulus tower rose above the city and within minutes a torrential rain showered the participants of the procession. Earlier this day another "cortège" formed of all the schools in and around Naga occupied the streets of the City. Boys and girls scouts showed their skills and school bands filled the streets with sounds and sometimes even with music.
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The Voyadores Festival
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The Military Parade |
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The Military Parade during the Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia festival is not a parade of the army or the air-force, but a parade of the local high schools. It is somehow a relict of the past colonial era. In the high schools of the former colonialists, Spain and the USA, pupils also get a military training. The Americans had imported this kind of education from their former colonial masters, the United Kingdom and brought to the Philippines. |
The parade is a real hard thing. Even as it starts at 7 am, the sun burns down on the marching students. The last groups get the full heath around 11 am. So, more and more pupils get exhausted and have to give up. Trainers and coaches accompany their groups and try to keep their young folks upright. Medical teams can be found along the whole parade. They give immediate care, if one of the "soldiers" is kicked out of his shoes. |
Along the route are observers who judge the appearance and behaviour of the "troops". Later in the afternoon their reports allow a committee to attribute titles and prizes to the best groups. The day's activities terminate with a big display in the city centre. And as it is Friday, the streets are crammed full. Unfortunately lots of pick-pockets and thieves do their nasty job. The police is present everywhere and tries to limit the illegal activities. |
 The Military Parade begins |
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The Fluvial Procession
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