To those of you who want to attend the mass at Quiapo during the feast of the Black Nazarene, here are some of my tips and advice. I go to mass here every 9th of January.
1. Masses are held every hour from eve and so if you plan to attend at a specified time, be there an hour before (before 5am) or more (after 6am) if you want to get inside the church.
This year, I was already at Carriedo at around 6:30 am but was able to get inside only by 7:40 enough time before the 8am mass. It's tough squeezing your way in especially when mass is ongoing. The time allowance will give you hopefully ample time to catch the wave of people going in to replace the wave going out. Going out of the church is faster - you don't even have to walk. Just catch the exit current.
2. Don't be fooled by an opening you see in the crowd. Chances are there are steel railings or candle vendors in the open area. Same is true inside the church. There are steel railings there to manage crowd control. But me, I opt to go towards it because there'll be more breathing space for me.
3. Commute going there because parking will be impossible. You may get lucky though to park a few blocks away if you go at around 1am to 3am, which I did about three years ago.
4. Be prepared to get soaked if its raining as it's not advisable to bring umbrellas if you don't want to irk the crowd. I'm lucky the drizzles stopped but the road became so muddy. So,
5. Don't use new shoes. Be prepared to get stepped on or ruin your shoes especially if it's raining.
6. Don't bring big bags or knapsacks, wallets or expensive cell phones.
7. Bring a towel. A hankie is not enough.
8. Do not bring children especially small ones. I plan to bring mine when they turn sixteen at least.
9. During communion, crowds are directed to the exit area. So if you still want to finish the mass (like I do) and wait for the final blessing, time your way to the communion area so that you are still inside the church even when you are already caught in the wave of people exiting the church.
10. Enjoy the pilgrimage. It is after all why you are there. Don't mind those who curses the pushing and the shoving even after just attending the mass. Focus on God, pray and be thankful for all your blessings.
This year the image for procession was staged in Luneta. This is different from the one inside the church. They use a different replica for purposes of the procession. I can classify devotees into two: Those who attend and join the procession barefoot and all, and those who attend the mass during feast day. Neither is a lesser devotion but a show of faith to Nuestro Senor Padre Nazareno.
God bless everyone!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
12 New Things To Do This Christmas '08
Although this year's Christmas holidays have the longest non working days ever, our family hardly had the time to schedule a long vacation. Some friends even invited us to go to Ilocos but we had to respectfully decline due to conflict in schedules.
We had an opening on the 29th so we decided to leave for Baguio for an overnight stay. This time around however, we tried to do things that we haven't done in this summer capital. So I'm listing some new things that we did this holiday season.
1. First on the list would be visit Baguio this Christmas season. Yep, we don't usually go out during the holidays, but this time we did -- even for just two days.
2. Eat breakfast at Star Cafe. I haven't had the chance to bring my family here where my father would bring us when we were young. We left home early at around 4am and went straight there to have breakfast. We are lucky to visit it first because the next day it was close while we were hoping to bring home some of those yummy cinnamon bread as pasalubongs.
3. Hmmm... Burnham park, Wright Park, been there, done that, so why not check out Crosby Park? It's one of the lesser known and least visited parks because of it's proximity from the city. But for me the lesser the crowd, the better. The surrounding's also still pretty much green and clean and the air also cooler. It's more of a campsite though with it's obstacle course and we did find some campers up on that mountain.
4. Do the Balatoc Mines tour - Benguet Mining Corporation opened this first and only actual mining site tour in the Philippines. We learned about it only now considering it was opened in 1997. The tour guide said that foreigners claim it rivals if not top most the the mining tours in the few other countries that offer it because you can try and really experience some actual things you do inside the mines. I've put a little teaser here...
5. Ride a train inside an actual gold mining tunnel - imagine Indiana Jones!
6. Hold an actual dynamite then hear and feel it's blast within the tunnel. The blast demo used just half a stick. Imagine all 30+ full size dynamites blasting a hole all at one time. ABAAH! BOH!!! (sound effect ala Combat TV series during the 70s)
7. Visit the Baguio Cathedral at night time. Nice shot huh!
8. Buy sweet Camote from a lola along Session road at night. She panicked over the flash when I took her pic.
9. Visit Tam-Awan village. See artworks from local artists where
Ben Cabrera now retires. The artworks are great and you can also have your own portrait or caricature made by the artists here. Ifugao huts are also available for rent so you may try to experience living the highlanders way.
10. First time ever great lunch/dinner combo at Isdaan resto along Gerona, Tarlac. We just pass this place everytime we go north but this time we decided to stop over and had lunch (at 4pm?) Suzette treated everybody and we had a great time with the great food here notably the Tinupig na Manok and marinated inihaw na liempo. The all-veggie kare kare and Hototay soup
were also superb! From the national road the frontage is inviting but somehow you just pass thru it because you want to get home soon. But once inside, you would want to stay longer. We did stay for nearly two hours here but it's not a waste of time.
11. Had fun things at the Isdaan resto - Marvel at the sculptures all around and the floating dinner tables. The kids tried the Tacsiyapo wall. This is where you shout Tacsiyapo and hurl procelain (or buy an old TV set) against the wall. Guaranteed to release tension. Kids can also feed large Kois that looks like hungry Piranhas coming at you.
There's even the San Kilo bridge challenge where you can bring home a kilo of fish for free if you cross the narrow footstep without falling on the pond of Piranhas, er Kois.
12. Use the SCTEX highway going home. This new highway is a breeze !!! Glad we took it because we saw the traffic jam on the old highway and it took us only about 30 minutes to link to the NLEX again.
We had an opening on the 29th so we decided to leave for Baguio for an overnight stay. This time around however, we tried to do things that we haven't done in this summer capital. So I'm listing some new things that we did this holiday season.
1. First on the list would be visit Baguio this Christmas season. Yep, we don't usually go out during the holidays, but this time we did -- even for just two days.
2. Eat breakfast at Star Cafe. I haven't had the chance to bring my family here where my father would bring us when we were young. We left home early at around 4am and went straight there to have breakfast. We are lucky to visit it first because the next day it was close while we were hoping to bring home some of those yummy cinnamon bread as pasalubongs.
3. Hmmm... Burnham park, Wright Park, been there, done that, so why not check out Crosby Park? It's one of the lesser known and least visited parks because of it's proximity from the city. But for me the lesser the crowd, the better. The surrounding's also still pretty much green and clean and the air also cooler. It's more of a campsite though with it's obstacle course and we did find some campers up on that mountain.4. Do the Balatoc Mines tour - Benguet Mining Corporation opened this first and only actual mining site tour in the Philippines. We learned about it only now considering it was opened in 1997. The tour guide said that foreigners claim it rivals if not top most the the mining tours in the few other countries that offer it because you can try and really experience some actual things you do inside the mines. I've put a little teaser here...
5. Ride a train inside an actual gold mining tunnel - imagine Indiana Jones!
6. Hold an actual dynamite then hear and feel it's blast within the tunnel. The blast demo used just half a stick. Imagine all 30+ full size dynamites blasting a hole all at one time. ABAAH! BOH!!! (sound effect ala Combat TV series during the 70s)
7. Visit the Baguio Cathedral at night time. Nice shot huh!
8. Buy sweet Camote from a lola along Session road at night. She panicked over the flash when I took her pic.
9. Visit Tam-Awan village. See artworks from local artists where
Ben Cabrera now retires. The artworks are great and you can also have your own portrait or caricature made by the artists here. Ifugao huts are also available for rent so you may try to experience living the highlanders way.10. First time ever great lunch/dinner combo at Isdaan resto along Gerona, Tarlac. We just pass this place everytime we go north but this time we decided to stop over and had lunch (at 4pm?) Suzette treated everybody and we had a great time with the great food here notably the Tinupig na Manok and marinated inihaw na liempo. The all-veggie kare kare and Hototay soup
were also superb! From the national road the frontage is inviting but somehow you just pass thru it because you want to get home soon. But once inside, you would want to stay longer. We did stay for nearly two hours here but it's not a waste of time.11. Had fun things at the Isdaan resto - Marvel at the sculptures all around and the floating dinner tables. The kids tried the Tacsiyapo wall. This is where you shout Tacsiyapo and hurl procelain (or buy an old TV set) against the wall. Guaranteed to release tension. Kids can also feed large Kois that looks like hungry Piranhas coming at you.
There's even the San Kilo bridge challenge where you can bring home a kilo of fish for free if you cross the narrow footstep without falling on the pond of Piranhas, er Kois.
12. Use the SCTEX highway going home. This new highway is a breeze !!! Glad we took it because we saw the traffic jam on the old highway and it took us only about 30 minutes to link to the NLEX again.
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