As October Begins (La Naval de Manila 2014)

Cover photo of the La Naval de Manila official facebook page

For Catholics, the month of October is dedicated to the Rosary. In connection to this is one of the biggest and most historical fiestas in the Philippines; the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of La Naval de Manila or simply, La Naval de Manila.

This fiesta commemorates the Battles of La Naval in 1646, where the Spanish and Filipino forces fought against the far more powerful Dutch armada, and miraculously won through the intercession of Our Lady.

Our Lady of La Naval. La Naval de Manila procession 2013

At that time, the Dutch wanted to conquer our nation and the only line of defense for our country back then were two old Galleons that were armed for the battle. Compared to the opposing navy, our forces would have no chance of winning. In those moments, our forces turned to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary for her intercession and for victory over the Dutch forces. And after 5 naval battles at different parts of the nation, the Spanish and Filipino forces triumphed through the intercession of Our Lady and this miraculous victory is still remembered in the celebration of La Naval de Manila every second Sunday of the month of October (this year, October 12, 2014). This is why the devotion is known as La Naval, referring to the events of 1646.

You can read a history of Our Lady of La Naval at http://www.lanavaldemanila.com/about_la_naval/

Thousands attending the procession along Quezon Ave. La Naval de Manila 2013

Tomorrow, the celebrations begin with the enthronement of the image of Our Lady of La Naval at the altar of her church, Sto. Domingo Church, QC, where it will all take place. Starting this Friday October 3 until Oct 11, Saturday will be the days of the novena. On October 4, 6, 8 and 10 will be the Besamanto at 7 PM after the novena mass, in which the image will be lowered from the baldachino for devotees to venerate. The feast is on October 12th, the 2nd Sunday of the month which is when her feast is annually celebrated and it will be highlighted by the grand procession that starts at 4 PM on that day.

 

Baldachino of Our Lady of La Naval prepared for the fiesta. Sto. Domingo Church, Quezon City

Banner of Our Lady hanging at the footbridge in front of Sto. Domingo Church, carrying this year's fiesta theme.

This fiesta has been one that I've been looking forward to every year whenever it's October. I've been attending these celebrations for years and for sure, I will be attending it again, especially the feast day itself.
Viva la Virgen! Viva Nuestra Senora de La Naval! Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii, Ora Pro Nobis!

Official Facebook Page of La Naval de Manila

edit: Did a few edits to this post and added the besomanto to the activities

Puto Bumbong in September

One thing that I miss from Christmas is puto bumbong. The only chance I get to have some is during the ber months and of course, the holidays, since it is associated with the season along with queso de bola, hamon and others. For those who aren't familiar, it's a purple steamed rice cake, cooked in bamboo tubes and served with grated coconut. Today, I had a craving for that and, although Christmas is still months away, I know there was this stall in front of our church that is already selling it so I there to buy some for 25 pesos. The one I just had today was good as always, texture was nice, good deal for 25 pesos. :)  It's been a while since I've had one of these.

Wow, September's coming to a close... October's a promising month and hopefully, things will get better from here on out. Thanks for dropping by! :D

Manila International Book Fair 2014 - After the Storm

Part 2 of my post on the Manila International Book Fair 2014. Since a lot happened, I decided to divide my posts on the event. Check part one of my coverage here.

Now, on to the Manila International Book Fair 2014...

After checking out the Marian exhibit at the mall, I returned to SMX for the book fair. The number of books and people was overwhelming. The place was congested, siksikan talaga. The book fair covered the entire hall on the ground floor. There, you could see many books from different exhibitors, including two of the biggest bookstores in the country, National Bookstore and Fully Booked (they I think were the biggest exhibitors). Leading publishers in the country also came in. It's almost not an exaggeration to say that one could see books about almost everything under the sun. There's religious books, bibles, textbooks, theoretical books, comics, mangas, novels... name it, chances are it's there. Most of the time I've wandered around, taking pics, looking at some stores and going out of the hall and in again. There's also a stage area for performances at one of the far ends of the massive hall.

Go USTe! (^o^)/

Events stage

Lines build up

Selfies... the trend's still going strong...

One of the less congested areas

Crowd at around 3 PM. Pretty much the crowd was at it's peak from that time onwards

Good that people are reading...

Book signing outside the halls.

 Left: Book signings at the MIBF.  Right: Cosplayers among the people.

Books, books everywhere...

In addition to the MIBF, there was also the Best of Anime 2014, which happened in the upper floor. This was my first ever cosplay event because I attended last year's. This year though, I didn't attend and the tickets for that were at the hefty price of 300 pesos. Yes, that expensive. Though I wasn't there, I was able to see the cosplayers gracing this event (and the bookfair. Some cosplayers entered the book fair too). I had to take pics of them when they came down the escalator and when they stayed near the entrances of the book fair. Good to see them as always. They brought more color to the place with their costumes and their talent. Not only the cosplayers, even from downstairs outside the hall, I could hear the performances taking place at BOA. 

BOA upstairs. By the way, those without tickets to that can't go up due to some new policies for the events.

One booth that I went to often was the Komikon booth. The main reason why is that it has something to do with my thesis project. I made about two visits here, first, I canvassed and checked out some of their titles, especially those that could help me in my thesis, plus I talked about it with the guys in charge of the booth. After that, I left it to think about what to buy. When I returned, I checked out some of their titles again and bought a few of 'em. I even had them signed since one of the artists was there. Hopefully though, they could help me for my thesis project. Good luck to me on that. :)
Also, I've been going to the religious stores. I was thinking of buying something, but in the end, I didn't. I might buy something from those stores some other time at one of their branches (like at St. Pauls to say one place).

Aside from books, there were more attractions all over the place. At the REX bookstore, they featured the world's smallest book. There were also booths that featured gadgets and robots. The event was even attended by famous personalities, other than just authors. Two big names I saw were Marian Rivera and Juluis Babao.

The Bookfair was also an opportunity for me to meet up with my classmates. I was able to meet some of them. Good to see them there. :) During the event, I looked for  my other classmates that probably attended. I guess I didn't see 'em. :(

Around 4 PM I left SMX to have merienda somewhere but later on, I decided against it.

Here's some more pics:

@ the Komikon store

Robots on display. This booth was near the stage.

The smallest book in the world on display at the Rex store.

Marian Rivera's in this pic...

Religious sisters were a common sight at the book fair.

News anchor Julius Babao

At the religious stores. Note the standfie of Pope Francis.

I left SMX at about 6:30 PM. At a jeepney I took on the way to the LRT, SM MOA had a fireworks display. It was tough to see it from the jeep and only saw some parts of it. Nonetheless, it was good to see it as I was leaving the place.

In the end, it was a really tiring experience. Though tiring, it was undoubtedly a fun event after the storms and at least I was able to do some things I had to do. The experience was worth it, though there more things I could've done (...maybe). Next time though to avoid that feeling of wishing I could've done this or that, I gotta learn to make the best out of everything. It felt strange after the event's over. There's always that weird feeling that comes after a big event like the MIBF... :/
Also, I'd like to say that the event was a pre-bday celebration. Last Wednesday, I celebrated my Bday and I thank God for all the blessings that He has given me. I do hope that I will realize more of them and may He help me in everything that I do in the days and years to come. I also hope to be more responsible for my actions and be able to go through everything that I face in life.

And that's that. Thanks for checking! :D \(^o^)/