What's Happening in the Philippines on the Feast of St. John the Baptist?
The Feast of St. John the Baptist was yesterday (June 24), and how do the Philippines celebrate. By covering themselves in mud and banana leaves.
From the UK Independent:
The Feast Day of St John the Baptist is celebrated in the Philippines every year. In the village of Bibiclat in Nueva Ecija province, people transform themselves into "taong putik" (mud people) by covering themselves in mud and wearing costumes made from dried banana leaves. This tradition represents the way John the Baptist disguised himself when he baptised Jesus Christ. Hundreds of devotees perform the annual rites in the hopes of receiving blessings and having bountiful harvest in their farming which coincides with the feast day of their patron saint.
Meanwhile, in Spain the celebration begins the night before the Feast of St. John the Baptist ...
The Sant Joan festival has many names, but in Catalonia and Barcelona it is most often called the "Nit de Sant Joan" which means St John's Night or St. John's Eve. You also often hear it called "La revetlla de Sant Joan" in Catalan or in Spanish "Verbenas de Sant Joan." And even just "Nit de Foc" - night of fire which describe Sant Joan perfectly. All these names refer to the same event - the festival feast of Saint John the Baptist which celebrates the solstice Spanish midsummers eve during the evening and night of 23rd June every year.
From the UK Independent:
The Feast Day of St John the Baptist is celebrated in the Philippines every year. In the village of Bibiclat in Nueva Ecija province, people transform themselves into "taong putik" (mud people) by covering themselves in mud and wearing costumes made from dried banana leaves. This tradition represents the way John the Baptist disguised himself when he baptised Jesus Christ. Hundreds of devotees perform the annual rites in the hopes of receiving blessings and having bountiful harvest in their farming which coincides with the feast day of their patron saint.
Meanwhile, in Spain the celebration begins the night before the Feast of St. John the Baptist ...
The Sant Joan festival has many names, but in Catalonia and Barcelona it is most often called the "Nit de Sant Joan" which means St John's Night or St. John's Eve. You also often hear it called "La revetlla de Sant Joan" in Catalan or in Spanish "Verbenas de Sant Joan." And even just "Nit de Foc" - night of fire which describe Sant Joan perfectly. All these names refer to the same event - the festival feast of Saint John the Baptist which celebrates the solstice Spanish midsummers eve during the evening and night of 23rd June every year.
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| Celebrants form a human tower during the Sant Joan festival in Valls, Spain.
Reuters
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Labels: Feast Days, International Catholics, saints
posted by jope @ June 25, 2014
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