The Regina Coeli

                                                        The "Sugat". April 4, 2010. 4:30AM.

In Catholic Churches everywhere in the Philippines, there is a tradition called "Sugat", which, in my dialect means, to meet. This meeting is a reenactment of when Mary meets the risen Christ (who had died and then risen). It is symbolic, and in these reenactments, the "Angels" are called upon to sing. It is a familiar song to me because most of the girls in my town have, in one way or another participated in this (myself included, heck, i even participated from when I was 4 until I was 11..haha).

(It used to be just girls participating, but lately, they've been putting in boy angels too.)

The song Regina Coeli is sung in Latin, and everyone waits in bated breath while these kids sing. It is a solemn song, and has the nicest translation, but when we were kids, we were taught to sing it at the top of our voices (I sang Soprano, even then :-p) so we were just probably yelling it out without really knowing what it means.

It is an annual thing, and annually, it ends the same way... Because of the folk belief that the decorations of the stand are like lucky amulets, there is always a clamor for the flowers and branches on the stage. Once i even heard that when a fisherman attaches flowers to his net, he is sure to get a great big catch...(and who doesn't want that, right?). Happens every year, really.

Anyway, it was only this year that some sort of discipline was instituted. The priest firmly instructed people along at the end...it was made sure that the kids were safely off the stage first, before the "go signal" was given. :-p It was even a bit comical that for such a solemn, and religious ceremony, would become like rabid heathens just to get at amulets. But hey, people compromise...

I'm not all for it, but hey, it's tradition.

And like all traditions go...Happy Easter. :-)