Flores De Mayo – Queen of Filipino Festivals

The Festival

The month of May is known to be the month of fiestas in the Philippines, honoring the different patron saints in celebrations of merriment and jollity that includes processions, beauty pageants, and band music, and also the month for the Catholics for the veneration of the Virgin Mary.
After the long dry season, rain pours over flowers and bloom overnight. Celebrating the beneficial rain, the Filipino give praise to the Blessed Mother, thus decorating the Parish Churchís altars and aisles with beautiful flowers they have gathered, bundling the blooms in arrangements for the different festivities of May known as the Flores de Mayo, or Flowers of May.
Many towns celebrate the month-long flower event with the community people assemble during afternoon praying the rosary, offering flowers to the Virgin, and sharing homemade cooking. People warmly welcome the coming of the rain that is long expected to water the crops.
Santacruzan, one of the events of Flores de Mayo, is considered the Queen of Filipino Festivals. Beautiful maidens in town are chosen to participate in this colorful parade. Held in almost every town, the week-long street pageant, the beautiful maidens with their handsome escorts parade under hand-carried bamboo arcs decorated by native flowers.
The festival represents the finding of the Holy Cross by Queen Helena, the mother of the newly converted emperor, Constantine the Great, after being found in Jerusalem and brought back to Rome which led to celebration of thanksgiving.
Movie actors and popular celebrities participate in the event and featured as the sagalas and the escorts. Flores de Mayo in the Philippines is Filipinoís version of the Santa Cruz de Mayo of Mexico.

Origin

Flores de Mayo is spanish term for Flowers of May, may sometimes refer to Flores de Maria (Flowers of Mary, or Alay (offering) but all pertains to the whole flower festival celebrated during may in tribute to the Virgin Mary. Santacruzan on the other hand is celebrated in honor of Queen Helena.
300 years after the death of Jesus Christ, she sought for the holy cross in Calvary at the age of 75. After she dug at the site of the crucifixion, she found three crosses. It is believed that one of the crosses is Christís.
The feast day of Queen Helena falls on the 8th of August yet the anniversary of the finding of the cross falls on the 3rd of May.

History

Constantine the Great once fought the Roman Emperor Maxentius sometime in the year 312 AD. In a hopeless situation of winning, he sought the help of the Christian God as he cast his eyes to heaven where he saw in the night sky the shining sign of the cross with words ìin hoc signia vincitî (by the sign thou shalt conquer). He defeated to Roman Army with the sign of the cross as his insignia and the words written with it and entered Rome in victory.

The Scoop

The Santacruzan

Being introduced by the Spaniards in the Philippines and became part of Filipino tradition, the Santacruzan is lead by a novena (nine days of prayer), in respect of the Holy Cross. The pageant parade is arranged in order:
Leading the procession is Methusalah, bearded and curved with age. He is riding a cart, tasting  grains of sand, pertaining to ìall that glitters will end up as dustî.
Behind is Reyna Banderada, a young maiden dressed in red long gown carrying a small flag that represents the coming of Christianity.
Next in line are the Aetas, half-clad little boys, bodies blackened with soot. They represent the unconverted Filipino pagans.
Reyna Mora follows representing the dominant religion Muslim before Christianity.
Reyna Fe, symbolizes faith and carries a cross.
Reyna Esperanza, symbolizes hope, she carries an anchor.
Reyna Caridad, symbolizes charity, she carries a red heart.
Reyna Abogada, dressed in graduation toga, she symbolizes the blindfolded justice by carrying a big book.
Reyna Sentenciada, symbolizes the innocents who have been convicted. Her slim hands are bound with rope and escorted by two Roman soldiers.
Reyna Justicia is the mirror of justice, she carries a weighing scale and a sword.
Reyna Judith, represents Judith of Pethulia, carries the head of Holofernes and a sword on the other hand.
Reyna Sheba, she visited King Solomon, and was overwhelmed by her wisdom, power, and riches. She carries a jewelry box.
Reyna Esther, the biblical Jew. She spared the life of her countrymen from persecution against King Xerxes. She carries a scepter.
Samaritana, carrying a jug on her shoulder. She was the one Christ spoke to at the well.
Veronica, who wiped the face of Jesus Christ and carries a bandana with three faces of the Christ printed.
Tres Marias:
Mary Magdala, carrying a bottle of perfume, Mary Mother of Jesus, carrying a handkerchief, and Mary Mother of James, carrying a bottle of oil.
Marian, representing the many titles of the Virgin Blessed Mother, consists of eight girls all wearing white angel costume, namely: Divina Pastora, Reyna delas Estrellas, Rosa Mystica, Reyna Paz, Reyna delas Propetas, Reyna del Cielo, Reyna delas Virgines, and Reyna delas Flores.
Finally comes Reyna Elena, she is the highlight of the procession. Carrying a small cross, she is escorted by her son, Constantine the Great under huge canopy of different flowers. Behind her is the image of the Virgin Mary carried by a float, followed by a brass band the provides the festive sounds to the procession.
Last to be seen in the procession is the beat of the rondalla, the rockets lighted rosing in the sky, and devotees with candles in their hands singing the prayer of Dios Te Salve.

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