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Difference between revisions of "Marinduque News"
→Unveiling other treasures of Marinduque
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==MARINDUQUE MORYONS== | |||
*Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/357123/marinduque-moryons | |||
*April 16, 2012, 1:56am | |||
:by FLORO L. MERCENE | |||
PROPERLY anesthetized, with a little help from a bottle or two of gin or gallons of the local tuba (coconut toddy), the penitents allow themselves to be scarred by the tip of a very sharp knife. The now swollen muscle erupts in crimson blood, flowing down his backs and legs. Soon, by the end of the procession and before the various carosas bearing the image of saints and the Santo Sepulcro, the dead body of Christ, enter the church doors, the moryons leave for home, while the antipos flee to the nearby sea and immersed themselves in the warm, salty water, washing off the caked blood and thereby symbolically washing themselves of sin. | |||
The climax of the Moryon Festival comes on Easter Sunday, when the masked men give chase to Longino, who is easily identifiable by his one-eyed mask. | |||
Longino is a Roman centurion, who, according to Biblical tradition, thrusts a spear on the crucified Christ, to see if He was truly dead. | |||
The spurting blood hit his blind eye and his eyesight was restored. | |||
Longino is said to have been the first Roman convert to Christianity, proselytizing to all who would listen before he incurred the wrath of Pilate and was executed. | |||
The local moryons, barely recalling this Biblical accounts (remember, they are farmers and fishermen) and following local traditions, run after Longino. They chase him across muddy fields, beneath coconut and banana plantations, through the sun splashed meadows, under nipa houses. Twice he will be caught and escaped. | |||
The wily Longino, usually fueled by alcohol, would flee barefoot, the cape behind him fluttering in the warm breeze, and choose the most difficult path in the barangay to dodge the pursuing troopers. | |||
The chase provokes uproars of chickens cackling, dogs barking, and the uncontrolled mirth and laughter of the locals, amused no end by the display of braggadocio and unalloyed fun. | |||
Longino is eventually captured.The moryons tie him up and parade him in town. | |||
At noon, Longino is placed on a raised platform of makeshift bamboo bed, while around him, the moryons, now in a frenzy of shouting in falsetto voices, call for Longino’s head. | |||
With a flourish, an assigned moryon will raise his wooden sword, bring it down on Longino’s neck and raise the severed one-eyed mask for the town folks to marvel at. | |||
The Roces group calls the masked men “moriones” (plural for morion), which describes a metal breastplate or armor and accompanying headgear of a Roman centurion. | |||
The original moryon, as the Mogpog folks would tell you, is a wooden mask carved from dapdap. The headdress is not the plumed Roman soldier copied from the Ten Commandment movie, comic books, and literature. It is a later improvement. | |||
The moryon masks in Gasan and Buenavista, copied from Mogpog, are fashioned by the wearer. The cape is usually borrowed from the wife’s curtain. The headgear is fashioned from a slender bamboo stick, about a meter long, wrapped in colored paper and topped with petals in various colors. | |||
The locals are not in any mood to argue whether moryones should be spelled “Moryon” with a “y” or moriones, with an “i” noting that while Moriones in Tondo has been named since Spanish times’, not a single masked man can be seen in that congested part of the Manila during the Lenten season. | |||
==Unveiling other treasures of Marinduque== | ==Unveiling other treasures of Marinduque== | ||
*Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=797277&publicationSubCategoryId=200 | *Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=797277&publicationSubCategoryId=200 | ||
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One can walk around free from the threats of criminality. After all, Marinduque is the second safest province of the Philippines, next to the Batanes group of islands. | One can walk around free from the threats of criminality. After all, Marinduque is the second safest province of the Philippines, next to the Batanes group of islands. | ||
==Penalties for those who refuse official probes== | ==Penalties for those who refuse official probes== | ||