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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Naga City’s Flores de Mayo at Penafrancia de Mayo

Naga City’s Flores de Mayo
Horrible Sounding 'Sta. Cruzan' Characters
at Penafrancia de Mayo


We were dining at Yellow Cab
in Magsaysay Avenue on a Saturday Night
after attending an anticipated mass,

 

-when there was a sudden commotion in the street.
We later found out that there was a Flores de Mayo
passing by as a part of the Penafrancia de Mayo festivities.


 

Flores de Mayo is a colorful Filipino tradition
held in may cities and towns during the month of May,


Depicting the search and finding of the Holy Cross
by Queen Helena, mother of Constantine the great.

 

She is called the Reyna Elena by the Filipinos
and appears at the tail end of the procession.

  
In between were various queens and princesses
representing whatever the organizers may think of
according to their whims and caprices.


It used to be an honor for young ladies
to get invited to join
 the Flores de Mayo procession, 



I had an older sister who had been asked
to become a hilarious sounding Reyna Banderada 
when we were kids and she paraded wearing a gown 
bearing the colors of the Philippine flag-
and she is still getting nightmares until now
for that horrible experience despite the fact 
that she did not spend anything then and the gown
was rented for her by the Hermana Mayor.




…but lately, choosing the Flores de Mayo queens
are being done by bidding and whoever gets to
pay the most cash to the organizers-
gets to be the Reyna Elena



… the lowest bidder gets to become
the weird sounding Reyna Templaza-


…or the uncanny title of
Reyna Fortaleza


-or even the bizarre sounding
Reyna Prudencia.


I wonder why these young ladies wound want 
to be called by these outlandish sounding titles 
aside from their pretty real names.


It’s funny that some of the Flores de Mayo
partcipants were somewhat acting unqueenly
like texting on their phones or even
talking with the people around them.

 

In Naga City, the end of the procession
comes the most beautiful Queen of them all-


….the Lady of Penafrancia.


I wonder why she should still be paraded
with strange characters that ruin the solemnity
of the otherwise beautiful May procession.

-o-
NB: This post is a satirical social commentary so
I blotted out the names and faces of the
'sagala' participants as they are not one way or another
being critized by the author. They just happened
to be participants during the event.
-o-

You may also want to read a related post here:


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