Shower Festival In The Philippines

          

Today, typhoon  Falcon is passing by Manila.  People now are happy because the typhoon will leaving us soon and  they can avoid the fact of people throwing water at them as a tradition of the Feast of Saint John the Baptist.  

June 24 marks the calendar for the Feast of Saint John the Baptist Festival.  Taong Putik (Mud People) ,devotees of the patron saint John the Baptist covered in mud and dressed in dried banana leaves and in the other towns they celebrating it  throwing water at passerbys.

          

Children use an empty can used as a water dipper, to douse strangers with water. Older persons used their old coconut shells with perfumed water to sprinkle on passersby. Others get their bamboo cylinders fitted with pistons to squirt water or use water pistols on whoever passes by.

          

Unfortunately, the tradition is being threatened by killjoys or local bullies who douse car owners or jeepney riders with water from open ditches. Their actions have made others question the very idea of the festivity. Operators and drivers of southbound buses are worried against the practice of some people who throw things at passing vehicles today, the feast of St. John the Baptist, prompting them to call on the authorities to give them protection.

           

Anyone who goes to the town of San Juan, Metro Manila on the morning of June 24 water throwing is tolerated anywhere in town and  cannot stay dry.  This  experience is to remind one of one's baptism.

2:11  Matthew quotes Saint John as saying: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentence but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire."

 (Part 1 June 24,2011)