FLORES DE MAYO (SANTA CRUZAN)

Flores de Mayo or Flores de Maria is a Philippine wide Catholic festivity celebrated during the month of May. It is a celebration in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a CONTINUING tradition despite the radical changes in cultural and religious orientation of the new age.

In the Philippines, the month of May is considered to be the most flowery and the most fruitful month of the year… the scent of fragrant flowers fills the air and the sight of trees embellished with fruits is distinctive as the rains start to pour. Flowers and fruits are abundant anywhere in the Philippines and therefore are used as offertories during thanksgiving rites.

Flores de Mayo is said to have been introduced by the Spaniards to the Philippines and is believed to have started after the Vatican proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854.  This may also have been extracted from the publication circa 1867 of Mariano Seville’s translation of the devotional Flores de Maria where flowers are offered to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nationwide the festivity is called Flores de Mayo which means Flowers of May and is also known to many as Flores de Maria which means Flowers of Mary.

For the entire month of May each day is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Children dressed as angels with basket full of petals and cut flowers march down the center aisle of the church or chapel, offering the flowers to the image of the Blessed Virgin. Followed by the devotees old and young alike with hands holding cut banana trunk decorated with wild flowers gently attached to a “tukog” coconut leaflet’s bone or stick pierced around it. Hymns to the Virgin Mary are sung throughout the offering while novena prayers are said before the floral offering.

Prayers, Praises, Devotion, Faith, and Thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary are few reasons for the observance of Flores de Mayo. Highlighted with different religious activities makes the celebration more meaningful and more festive which certainly will leave a mark in your heart. Santa Cruzan is one of the activities and is celebrated in honor of St. Helena who discovered the relics of the True Cross or the Holy Cross. Queen Helena was THE MOTHER of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great who embraced Christianity which ceases the persecution of the Christians in the Roman Empire. Constantine regarded himself as Emperor of the Christian people and is revered as a Saint for his EXAMPLE as a "Christian monarch."

There are many versions how St. Helena found and discovered the True Cross or Holy Cross, but this one seems interesting, as follows:   Some 300 years after the death of Jesus Christ at the Cavalry, Queen Helena found 3 crosses and asked 3 of her sick servants to each choose and touch only one cross. THE CROSS that healed her servant miraculously was believed to be the same cross where Jesus Christ died.

In the Parish of Catmon, Cebu, the Santa Cruzan is the culminating activity of the Flores de Mayo which is originally held every 31st of May. The Santa Cruzan is celebrated starting with a Novena to the Blessed Virgin Mary within a Holy Mass. Before going to Church, all participants, the little angels, flower letter bearers, kids with FLOWER BOUQUET will all lined up in the street fronting the current Hermano-Hermana Mayor residence, then off to Church for the Novena and Holy Mass. The walk is headed by the letter bearers of the angelic salutation "AVE MARIA", a girl or a LADY WEARING a long white dress and a white veil.

After the Mass, Hermano-Hermana Mayor for the next year’s celebration will then be determined through luck. Candidates will pick one rolled paper from among the many, all are unmarked except for one for the lucky one. Then, parade will follow going to the current Hermano-Hermana Mayor’s residence for salo-salo or lunch. The parade is featured with dancing, singing, and laughing accompanied by the jolly beat of a local brass band.

Games and Fluvial Parade (Biray-biray) will follow after the feasting (salo-salo). The games will wind up late afternoon, while the Flores de Mayo Youth Organization “FYO” Officers and Members are busy preparing the community plaza stage for the Santa Cruzan IN THE EVENING.  Procession will commence the activity later on the day and is joined in by town belles in ornate gowns like queens portraying various biblical and historical characters and their handsome escorts under the hand-carried bamboo arches adorned with fragrant native flowers. It is a procession of live biblical characters, headed by St. Helena and her son St. Constantine the Great holding the Holy Cross.

Each Biblical Characters will be presented at the town plaza and will walk from the entrance gate and into the stage accompanied by customary music and their life’s narrative piece. The evening event is simply called SANTA CRUZAN. After the event, the floor of the plaza will be opened to all disco lovers… dancing, dancing, and more dancing.