INA 2012

This weekend's highlight: Penafrancia Fiesta.

My parents, my great grandparents, my great, great grandparents, my great, great, great *insert some more greats* grandparents have been devotees of Ina for as long as I can remember. They would be tasked to decorate Ina's andas and Ina herself. I remember very vaguely, when I was little, I would watch them cut flower stems (I remember stargazers being one of the flowers) and arrange them skillfully.

Every year, I would be looking forward to the dawn processions. Here, only women are allowed to carry Ina around the city-- barefooted. My mother and her mother would stay up late at night to decorate. They would finish at around one in the morning. From there, they would bring the andas to the Cathedral where a mass is held. After the mass, the women will carry Ina around Naga on their shoulders (often accompanied by praying of the rosary) without shoes. This happens at around three thirty until four thirty in the morning.

This year is extra special because this is the first time that I have experienced pagpasan of Ina. I have joined the processions before, but I have not experienced the thrill of carrying Ina and being suffocated with woman hair and flower pollen. I have never felt so claustrophobic before! Anyway, upon reaching the Cathedral doors, I pulled out because an old woman wanted to carry Ina also.

After the procession, my mother told me that she was about my age (or younger) when she first started her devotion. And so was my sister. I realized that like in Math, our faith in Ina will never end because it is a circle, a wheel (lessons on geometry have brought me this)-- unending, infinite and eternal. In numbers, there will always be succeeding numbers to follow. In analogy to real life, there will be next generations to come and take over when the veterans are gone. Like equations with variables, we are able to substitute the elders of the community with the youth. In this case, the type of equation used is an identity equation because Ina's love is always equal to the love Ina has before, no matter what permissible number  who is in place-- sinner or saint.

Muddy Feet

"Come on in! The water's perfect!"
Perfectly dirty, that is.

Viva la Variables Virgen!