The
smell of burnt candles, incense and fresh flowers in the puerta mayor would be overpowering but in a few minutes, the smell
of grilled pork belly, or some neighbors’ cooking would assault the senses in horde
of believers wielding candles and dressed for the thanks giving.
Streamers
and banners strung across the streets convey the festive fever. A green and
white SMART giant lighted air balloon occupies a prominent space in the plaza,
announcing a street dancing festival on the feast day, and amidst the raucous
of the nearby feria, throbs of
distant drums on street-dance rehearsals and the blare of trumpets and bugles
betray the degree of preparations everyone keeps to add more fun in the feast day
of thanks-giving.
Everywhere
would have been pandemonium: classmates from a school batch long time ago, shake
hands, hug and exchange contact numbers.
In
the loft, the choir ends the joyous song with a hail of applause and the
invitations for dinner gets cast and thrown to just anyone.
Not
this time.
Shared
and made viral on social media is the provincial government’s anti-coronavirus
disease (COVID) policy banning mass gatherings, drinking in public, and lavish
spending in a time of great tribulation with many getting hungry from work
stoppages.
This
is fiesta sa Mayo sa Bohol in the COViD era.
There
are no fireworks that light the sky, the caro
bearing the patron winds the procession route somber, with only a few cars
and motorcycles in tow, back to the church’s puerta mayor.
No
live brass bands fill the air with solemn hymns and lively marches after the
procession: only a piped in hymn from a public address borne by the caro betrays the holy rite.
In
fact, the caro, unlike the usually elegantly lavish and brightly lit with a
pompous image in a pedestal festooned with fresh flowers; this one was simple
table set at the back of a pick-up truck.
In
the few cars joining the procession are few people, motorcycles with solo
riders, all in facemasks, some even sporting not the rosary or some scapular,
but oversized ID cards and home quarantine passes.
Along
the procession route, houses still light candles by the roadside, others open
up windows so the kids with candles could watch the holy procession.
The
millennials, gadget wielding, have their mobiles documenting and updating their
favorite social media platforms, thanks to stronger internet connectivity.
“We
could not imagine how we would have known and shared the information without an
access to the internet,” a church lay minister, who misses the church services
since two months now, shared.
“Or,
text for that matter,” he added.
Information
like COVID-19 prevention, contact tracing, updates by the National Disaster and
Risk Reduction Management Council, National Telecommunications Commission and
the Department of Health, all messages get to us through the SMART infocast, he
added.
By
tradition, and with the faithful clearly missing the practice of devotion, few
devotees kneel by the roadsides as the procession passes, their home urna
images placed in decorated altareses
strewn along the route.
Some
few more shower and cast flower petals, like angels, as the procession progresses.
Earlier,
the parish bulletin on the Parish Social media Page announced the procession
route, the post alone generated over a hundred shares and comments bearing well
wishes, devotional prayers heartwarming greetings from stranded town-mates,
unable to come home due to the lockdowns.
As
processions then were also venues for small talk, this time it’s the mobile
phones taking over, making sure those marooned in some distant lands also
experience the fiesta, now on social media.
Following
social distancing directives and ban on mass gatherings, even churches have to
close.
But
the masses, now missa sine populo (private
masses) continue daily.
Processions
are still done, image not anymore borne by the shoulders of believers. It is
set on a pick-up truck winding through the town’s thoroughfares, and on streets
not in the traditional processional route.
Bohol
Executive Order Nos. 14 through 18 puts in place measures like mandatory use of
face masks outside homes, mandatory curfew for minors and elderly,
province-wide curfew and liquor ban, including travel bans for all inbound
passengers, basic hygiene and social distancing.
Here,
churches has posted a new norm for the Fiesta Month: simple and yet different,
far from the notoriously lavish banquets most Boholanos and tourists relish.
Dioceses
of Tagbilaran Bishop Alberto Uy and Talibon Bishop Patrick Daniel Parcon issued
a joint pastoral letter “On Celebrating Fiestas,” in times of the health
crisis.
The
celebrations should be devoid of lavish banquets that outshine the reality of
the religious foundations of the celebrations, the church hinted.
Instead
of overflowing churches in the fiesta mass, only the parish priest and vicar along
with few servers attend.
For
the faithful, bishops urged priests to broadcast the church activities, from
the novena up to the Fiesta proper, mount exterior speakers in churches and
chapels so the faithful can also participate from their homes.
In
homes, families face the laptop broadcasting the mass.
As
celebration is streamed online, parishioners listen to radios or turn to online
broadcasts and watch parties as the pastoral letter directed.
Where
streets were usually flowing with fiesta revelers, now, streets are eerily
empty.
Parishioners
light candles in front of their houses, while maintaining silence and praying
as the image of the patron passes by.
After
the procession, silence takes over, the disco loudspeakers in pre-COVID times
practically silent.
On
facebook, the Hermana Mayor, whose family is in-charge in safekeeping the santo, posts: “Thanks to those who lit
candles on the roadsides during the procession, and those who offered flowers
for the procession. Online fiesta mass is set at 9:00 AM.
When
people line up for food, the church sees spending profusely in time of need
would seem inappropriate.
Divorcing
from the tradition of an overflowing fiesta table might be tough, a fare for
the family however is never out of order. Lechon,
seafoods array, a side table for sweet desserts and pastries, along with native
kakanins maight still be there.
But,
church officials discouraged families from inviting guests when everyone is
always treated as a transmission suspect. That same message has been sent countless
times on text and facebook bulletins in a country acclaimed as the texting
capital of the world.
Fiesta
are times for family reunions. Now teens take to group chats, or scroll to a watch
party, hovering mobile phones over food, faces, the house and its new addition,
like any Boholano would show.
For
households who have more, church calls for sharing food to poor neighbors and
hungry brethren.
Packed
cooked food, or raw, is brought to a neighbors house, completing the bring
house tradition.
Fiestas
here are essentially connecting, urging people to live and live life more
fully.
And
thanks to an ever increasing high speed internet connectivity and almost
borderless access to digital services, the Boholanos have leveled the tables:
if they’d miss the physical banquet and the warm presence of family, friends
and kin over overflowing food and drinks, the dazzling options for the virtual communication
menu offer little comforts to get connected.
As
they said, in an ever-changing world, digital communication platforms have led Boholanos
to adapt to a bold, new future. (rahchiu/PIA-7/Bohol)
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