By Jocelyn R. Uy
More than the flamboyant dancing and merrymaking that every year engulf the streets of Pandacan in honor of the Sto. Niño, this tiny, ancient district in eastern Manila has all the trappings of what its parish priest calls a “Little Nazareth.”
While it is known that its patron saved the town from being crushed by Spanish colonial troops in the 1890s, Pandacan’s story has been overshadowed by the more spectacular tales of the miracles wrought by the Holy Child in other parts of the country, including another old Manila district to the north, Tondo.
But parish priest Fr. Lazaro Abaco believes that after being unknown and “hidden” for hundreds of years, the Sto. Niño de Pandacan will rise and begin to “do its public ministry” come Nov. 23, its 300th anniversary.
“If you look at it with a spiritual eye, it’s just right because if you look at the Nazareth experience, Jesus was hidden for 30 years. In our case, it is 300 years of hidden life of Jesus in Pandacan,” Abaco said in an interview.
A Buling-Buling (vernacular for “polished” or “well-prepared”) dance festival and a solemn High Mass officiated by the new Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle were held Saturday to kick off Sunday’s Feast of the Sto. Niño, usually marked by far more extravagant parades in other regions of the country.
Sunday’s festivities were part of a string of activities that the parish has prepared in the run-up to its tercentennial anniversary celebrations in November.
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