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Dance Your Way to Fertility in Obando, Bulacan

Every year, from May 17 to 19, the streets of Obando, Bulacan fill with dancing and merry-making. This is an annual event is called the Obando Fertility Rites.

Childless couples, praying that they bear children, do the "fertility dance" on the streets of Obando. The fiesta is observed in honor of Sta. Clara, San Pascual and Virgen de Salambao.

Obando Fertility Rites is an original Filipino dance ritual. To the tune of musical instruments made out of bamboo materials, the men, women and children of Obando, Bulacan, Philippines wear traditional dance costumes to dance on the streets followed by the images of their patron saints San Pascual (St. Paschal), Santa Clara (St. Claire) and Nuestra Señora de Salambao (Our Lady of Salambao), while singing the song Santa Clara Pinung-Pino.

Among the fiesta participants to the fertility dance are foreigners from other towns in the Philippines, most are asking the patron saints for a son or a daughter, a husband or a wife, or good fortune. They are all dancing on the streets as a form of a religious procession primarily in order for the spirit of life to enter into the wombs of women. This is the magic and mystery of Obando, Bulacan.

The feast days or dance festivals are held for three consecutive days: May 17 for St. Paschal, May 18 for St. Claire and May 19 for the Our Lady of Salambaw.

The Philippine national hero, Jose Rizal, mentioned this fertility dance ritual in his Spanish novel, the Noli Me Tangere.

The ancient Filipinos once held a ritual known as the Kasilonawan headed by a katalonan or high priestess. The ritual normally lasts for nine days and usually involves drinking, singing and dance, and is normally held at the home of a datu or barangay chieftain. This ritual became important to early Filipinos because they value of fertility that could also mean wealth or abundance of every individual person. A barren woman was once considered as a member of the lowest class in Philippine society and suffered stigma and mockery. Because of this reason, it became important to perform the fertility rites so that the women could become productive. The god known as Linga, a force of nature, became the center of the Kasilonawan ritual.

Upon the arrival of the Franciscan missionaries to the Philippines, they built churches to propagate the Christianity and introduced Catholic saints. In Obando, Bulacan the Spanish Franciscans introduced a trio or a triangle of saints, namely St. Claire, St. Pascual and the Our Lady of Salambao in order to replace the traditional pagan gods.

The current images at the altar of Obando Church are replicas, sculpted with the financial assistance of the people of Obando. The originals were destroyed during World War II.

THE PATRON SAINTS

Saint Claire
St. Claire is the oldest patron saint of Obando, Bulacan. She was the first saint to be enshrined at the chapel built by the Franciscan missionaries in Catanghalan, the old name of Obando Town.

St. Claire is a nun in Assisi, Italy during the 13th century, who founded a congregation known as the Poor Claires based on the devotional teachings of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Claire has been considered as the patron saint of good weather because her name in Spanish meant the brightening of the skies after a season of storms, which later became the basis why the residents of Obando, Bulacan believed in offering eggs at the base of the altar of St. Claire to pray for good weather. Eggs are offered to St. Claire because her name also meant claro (albumen) in Spanish.

The introduction of St. Claire by the Spanish Franciscan missionaries as a replacement for the pagan gods of the ancient Filipinos resulted to the transformation of the old Kasilonawan ritual into the offering of the fandango or dance for St. Claire to prevent women from becoming barren. This transformation from pagan rituals to Christian ceremonies enhanced the conversion of Filipinos to Catholicism.

Eventually, St. Claire became the pilgrim’s patron saint of an individual who would like to request for a mate and bear children, female babies in particular.

Lyrics of the song or novena to St. Claire
In Filipino: Santa Clarang pinong-pino / Ako po ay bigyan mo / Ng asawang labintatlo / Sa gastos ay walang reklamo!

English translation: (To the very refined, Saint Claire / I pray that you grant me / Thirteen spouses all in all / To the costs, I won’t complain at all!)

Variation, in Filipino: Santa Clarang pinong-pino / Ang pangako ko ay ganito / Pagdating ko sa Obando / Sasayaw ako ng pandanggo.

English translation: (To the very refined, Saint Claire / This is my promise / Upon reaching Obando Town / I will dance the fandanggo.)

For more information, contact...

The Obando Mayor's Office (02)292.2016 / 3226

Bulacan Governor's Office (044) 791.0208 governor@mozcom. com

http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/WOWPHILIPP INES/
http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/BALIismyLi fe/