MY SARISARI STORE

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While the owners of the statues are decorating their carrozas members of brass bands, drum majorettes and dance groups are converging to their assigned assembly place in Intramuros.

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To answer some of the questions raised by some of my visitors I have added following information:

Originally the icons belonged to the Church. The images then were few. The parish priest entrusted these statues to the families he revered the most in town. The recamadera of caretaker was responsible for maintaining the saint’s appearance by cleaning it, dressing it in sumptuous garments, and surrounding it with silver flowers.

This involved considerable expense for the caretaker had to feed and even house devotes who came down from the hills and distant fields. 

This trusteeship or the recamadera institution dovetailed therefore with the feudal order. Certain ricelands and orchards were titled to support an icon. For the wealthy were and are obliged to display the image in all its finery, before and after the procession. 

From a mere trustee, the role of the recamadera has undergone modifications. Formerly they were duty bound to return the images if the family changed residence or fell out of the priest’s favour. As the gentry grew wealthier from the 1850s, they began to own the icons and silver vehicles, which they now loaned to the Church. 

Please also note that the religious processions are the pride and the passion of the Filipinos. Great festivals bring together prodigious crowds both as actors and spectators. The processions are so popular because they present truths in vivid, literally touchable images; they bring together relatives, friends and neighbours, the rich and the poor; and they answer a variety of other needs. 

(Source: Cuaresma. Published by Bookmark)

 

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Every carroza is richly dcorated with flowers and plants.

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From early morning on the participants prepare their images, statues and processional carriages (carroza).

          Grand Marian Procession.

Since 1980, the Intramuros Administration and the Confradia de la Inmaculada Conception have mounted the Grand Marian Procession in Intramuros every first Sunday of December. 

This revives a tradition which originated in the historic Walled City centuries ago, after Pope Paul V declared that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was no longer open to question or public rebuttal.

It was in the year 1619 when the first celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception took place. Bullfights, masquerades, carnivals, parades, concerts, fireworks and pealing of the bells gave the event a festive air. 

In 1760, Pope Clement XIII authorized the celebration of the feast in the Philippines, having proclaimed Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception the principal patroness of Spain and the Indies.

President Ramon Magsaysay led the first Marian Procession on December 8, 1954 which assembled some 60 venerated and privately owned images of the Blessed Virgin from all over the Philippines. This event established the standard for modern feast day celebrations.

The Grand Marian Procession is a unique occasion to see some extraordinary statues of the Blessed Virgin. The Procession is festive with brass bands, dance groups and many devotees from all walks of life. It is a very colourful and joyful event.

(Source: Confradia de la Inmaculada Conception)