They say there is nothing quite like it for cooling the blood, but for more than a thousand Filipinos at a Catholic festival yesterday, slathering their bodies in mud was a way to show devotion and humility.
The annual tradition forms part of a joyous religious festival honoring a saint they believed saved residents from execution by Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Men, women and children sat in soggy rice paddies before dawn in the town of Aliaga, 100km north of Manila, covering each other in muck before donning dried banana leaves in the annual “Mud People” festival.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A tradition that draws the faithful and tourists alike, the event celebrates the feast of John the Baptist with devotees taking part in what they see as an act of humility and penance that imitates a saint who preached and lived a life of poverty in the desert.
“I got goosebumps when I joined the festival. The Lord is showering us with love,” 35-year-old businessman and village official Win Javaluyas said. “I am so happy. This is one way of being closer to God, to purify your intention and be holy.”
The “Mud People” festival, believed to have begun more than a century ago, became much more prominent after 1944 during Japan’s wartime occupation of the former US colony, said Elmer Villamayor, the parish priest of Saint John the Baptist.
Residents say Japanese soldiers were about to execute men in Aliaga to avenge the death of their compatriots when a heavy downpour broke out, forcing the troops to scamper away in what villagers saw as a miracle.
Grateful locals, who rolled happily in the mud, attributed the rain to Saint John the Baptist, who is associated with water.
“Some people view this event as yucky but this is a very solemn festival. People humble themselves and are sorry for their wrongdoings,” Villamayor said.
Participants say their devotion has led to miracles.
“My mother was healed after suffering from tuberculosis of the bone, a rare illness. Now my wife is pregnant with twins. I am praying for her healthy delivery,” Javaluyas said.
Indonesia and Malaysia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing global concern over generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text, while existing safeguards fail to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children. Regulators in the two Southeast Asian
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
RSS