Obando Fertility Rites: Obando, Bulacan

The Catholicism you find in the Philippines has a considerable pinch of older animist and pagan beliefs which inform rituals and traditions. The Obando Fertility Rites are no exception, and involve childless couples dancing an ancient folk dance to encourage reproduction.

The streets fill with couples hoping for children, who dance in an enormous procession, pushing before them wooden carts filled with images of the particular saint to whom they are appealing. The parade finally comes to rest at the steps of the church, into which the frenzied dancers continue their jamboree up the aisle.

Those to whom the pre-Catholic rituals were directed have simply been replaced by Catholic saints. So, if you want a wife, you dance to San Pascual Baylon. Conversely, if you want a husband, then you dance to Santa Clara de Assisi. Finally, if you want a child you dance to the Virgen de Salambao.

According to experts the dance must be performed with gyrating hips in time to the music and with belief. Many of town's people join in the dance although they may have no particular petition. One can observe the numerous childless couples, thankful parents, grateful farmers and fishermen dance along the streets together with colorfully customed women to pray for children and a good harvest. The population growth attests to the effectiveness of the right movements.

The Moriones Festival - The Colorful Lenten Celebration of Marinduque

Marinduque Crowds of town people dress up as a Roman legionaries and figures from the Bibles. The festival takes place in Marinduque during Holy Week and culminates in the re-enactment of the beheading of Longinus. Entire towns are converted into huge stages as the story of Longinus unfolds.

Participants wear colorful costumes (similar to those worn by Roman Legionaires) and masks made from paper mache and painted in lively colors. Other even dress up in the image of various other figures from the Bible.

"Morion" means "mask" or "visior”, refer to the colorfully garbed and masked soldiers and centurions during Christ's Passion, a part of Roman armor which covers the face. Morion serves as the focal point of the Moriones festival and celebrations.

One of the most colorful festivals celebrated in the island of Marinduque is the Moriones Festival. Moriones, on the other hand, refers to the masked and costumed penitents who march around the town for seven days searching for Longinus. This week-long celebration starts on Holy Monday and culminates on Easter Sunday when the story of Longinus is reenacted in pantomime. This is a folk-religious festival that re-enacts the story of Longinus, a Roman centurion who was blind in one eye.

Legend has it that Longinus pierced the side of the crucified Christ. The blood that spurted forth touched his blind eye and fully restored his sight. This miracle converted Longinus to Christianity and earned the ire of his fellow centurions. The re-enactment reaches its climax when Longinus is caught and beheaded.

The festival is characterized by colorful Roman costumes, painted masks and helmets, and brightly-colored tunics. The towns of Boac, Gasan, Santa Cruz, Buenavista and Mogpog in the island of Marinduque become one gigantic stage.


The observances form part of the Lenten celebrations of Marinduque. The various towns also hold the unique tradition of the pabasa or the recitation of Christ's passion in verse. The Via Crucis is also reenacted and flagellants, known as antipos, impose suffering upon themselves as a form of atonement. After three o'clock on Good Friday afternoon, the Santo Sepulcro is observed, whereby old women exchange verses based on the Bible as they stand in wake of the dead Christ.