The Legend Of Nuestra Señora De La Candelaria - Patroness of Jaro and Western Visayas

Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria or Our Lady of Candles, Patroness of Jaro and the whole Western Visayas Region

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Parish Church or the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral

In Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral, which imposingly standing in front of the plaza or town square of Jaro is the enshrined old statue of Nuestra Señora De La Candelaria or Our Lady of Candles. The townsfolk proves that the image is miraculous and countless of help, graces and blessings has been bestowed to the devotees.

Long time ago when the Spaniards set foot in the shores of Iloilo, some fisherman netted a hard object in the shores of Iloilo river. What they saw is a statue of Our Blessed Virgin, as high as one foot. The fishermen attempted to carry the image but it was so heavy.

In just a short span of time, the news spread. The people crowded the area. They plan of bringing the statue in a nearby church no matter what efforts they do to carry it nothing happens.

At last they decided to carry the image to the cathedral of Jaro. It was a surprise that if awhile ago ten men helped to carry the statue without any progress, now only one fisherman is carrying the statue easily. The image is enshrined in Jaro Cathedral.

After it was done, eventually there were so many things that took place. Allegedly, the image frequently disappears from its shrine in the church especially if its too early in the morning. Many have said that they often see a beautiful lady with an unusually long hair giving a bath to her child in the old artesian well formerly located in the middle of the Jaro plaza or town square.

Another miracle took place few years before the war. The incident was witnessed by many people.

The whole place of Our Blessed Virgin is so dark. After a few days, there is a sudden brightness in the site of the image when no one touched and arranged it. Another miracle is this: the once foot long image grows taller and bigger to its present size and a lush vine grows up around the place. The vines became the center of attention and considered to possess miraculous cure to any illness.

This is the patroness of Jaro and the entire Western Visayas. On her feast day, February 2 the candles were blessed, the light symbolizes the brightness of faith.

The new throne of Our Lady of Candles was made in 1980 before Pope John Paul II arrived in Jaro.




Photo Source:

Wikipedia
Flickr courtesy of Mic Cal

The City Of Iloilo

Iloilo City Hall

Different Sights and Places of Interest in Iloilo City

The city of Iloilo is consists of seven districts, six of whom were former towns or independent city namely: Arevalo, Jaro (formerly a town before becoming an independent city), Lapaz, Mandurriao, Molo, City Proper while Lapuz which is formerly a part of Lapaz, was declared a separate district in 2008.

Arevalo - was named La Villa de Arevalo by Governor-General Gonzalo Ronquillo y Peñalosa in memory of his hometown in Spain.

District of Jaro - the former name of Jaro is Salog. With the arrival of the Spaniards in the islands, they have no idea about the local dialects of the natives. They walk around in the place to view it and to learn about its name. Incidentally, a Spaniard stopped by Barrio Cubay. He saw a man building a house. He is so busy carving and cleaning the bamboos to be used as flooring for the house. The Spaniard asked the name of the place. The man could not understand what the Spaniard is saying so he just answered "salog" (floor).

In another occasion, a group of Spaniards came to the place. Upon their arrival, the natives were so busy in crafting clay jars that they call "saro." A Spaniard ask the name of the place. The natives assume that he asked about the name of the object they were doing so they answered saro. Since then, the place was called Saro that eventually became Jaro.





Photo Sources:

Iloilo City Wikipedia Entry

Iloilo City Government Official Website - www.iloilocity.gov.ph

The Legend Of The Town Of Leon

Saint Catherine of Alexandria Parish Church, Leon, Iloilo

Leon Town Plaza

Bucari Mountain Resorts in Bucari Mountain Ranges - Bucari, Leon, Iloilo

The first name of the town is Camando, taken from the name of the river Camando. This place is near the Sibalom river and every year it caused a lot of damage to the plants in the area and even people's lives were in danger. In 1859, Father Agustin Castro arrived in the place and became the parish priest. After he saw the damages of the overflowing of the river and flooding it caused to the people, he recommended the transfer of the town proper.

In 1862, Gobernadorcillo Joaquin Carbonero and other high officials of the town agreed to the suggestion of Father Castro to transfer the town proper.

In their meeting, they recommended three sitios as the new place for the town. First was Linti-an, the sitio near Gines  and Igkadios about 15 kilometers from the town.  The second mentioned sitio was Hampanga, a sitio near Carolina and Lang-og. This is about six kilometers from the town.  The third is Capan, a sitio which is about three kilometers from the town. In the three sitios mentioned, Capan was chosen as the new area for the town proper. Capan is a vast ricefield owned by Don Placido Capacillo. The place is about an hour to walk before you reach Camando. The date of the transfer of the new town of Camando took place on September 1, 1865.

In the first mass celebrated in a small chapel it was recommended that the new pueblo or municipality shall be named Alexandria, in honor of the town's patron saint, Saint Catherine of Alexandria. However, Father Agustin Castro told that the new pueblo shall be named Leon in honor of his native hometown in Spain.





Photo Source:

www.panayisland.com

https://wanderingtigerblog.wordpress.com

The Barrio Puyas

Sitio Puyas has a distance of about one and a half kilometer away from Milan.

One day, a foreigner came to the place to sell the good he carries. The area is thriving with the plant called "Puyas" or Job's tears plant (Scientific Name: Coix lacryma-jobi) . Puyas or Job's Tears is a kind of plant whose seeds or fruit is used to make novelty necklace, dangling and other things used by children. On the road towards the place of the route of the foreigner, the children gather and play with the seeds of puyas. The foreigner went to the children and ask about the name of the place however during that time the children are scared of foreigners. They run away shouting "puyas, puyas." The foreigner thought the name of the place is Puyas so he called the place Puyas.

Today even if puyas plant is no longer thriving in the area, the place is still known as Puyas.

This is now the biggest sitio or community of Barangay Milan in the town of Lemery.

The Barrio Milan

During the Spanish occupation of the Philippines, there is a community in the town of Lemery which was settled by many cheerful people. The place is about three kilometers away from the town. The houses surround the town square. The festivities is always fun in this place.

One day, a Spaniard came to this place. It's the town's fiesta when he came and he asked about the name of the place however no one answered because the locals could not understand what he is saying.

Incidentally, the Spaniard has studied in the beautiful city of Milan in Italy. Since he really wants to give a name to the place, he baptized it with a name Milan after the place he came from. He taught the locals that the name of their place is Milan.

Since then, the area was called Milan by the local residents.

The Place Of Lemery

The vantage point view of the town of Lemery, Iloilo

Pineapple Plantation in Brgy. Velasco, Lemery, Iloilo

In the northern part of the Iloilo province is a small town that we call today as Lemery. The place is surrounded with mountain ranges and these mountains is full of verdant thick tall trees. This area is situated along the border of Iloilo and Capiz provinces. It is surrounded with the towns of Sara, Ajuy, Barotac Viejo and San Rafael in Iloilo and the towns of Dumarao, Maayon and Pontevedra in Capiz.

During the Spanish colonial period, only a few people lived in this area. Most of them lived near the foothills of the highest mountain "Anito." This mountain has lots of thickly growing trees. Of all the trees in that mountain, there is one which stood out among the rest as the tallest and biggest tree. This is called the "Lawaan" wood. At night, the tree is full of fireflies. On a night especially if there is no moonlight, the tree is beautiful to look at seems like a huge Christmas tree that shine through darkness.

The tree serves as a guiding light by the people who travels at night. This also serves as a marker of their area.

One day, the elders in the area gathered to give a name for their place. They talk about what is the proper and ideal name for their community. They unanimously  name their place as "Lamenaria," referring to the tallest and biggest tree of Lawaan. Lamenaria means "light". They call it Lamenaria because at night the lawaan tree is like a light for the locals due to the fireflies which gather at the tree. Because of this, they call the place Lamenaria.

Through the passing of time and due to the increasing population coming to Lamenaria the name Lamenaria became Lameri probably due to the length of the name and difficulty in pronouncing or due to wrong pronunciation. Shortly after, Lameri became Lemery, which became the official name until now.

There is another story behind the origin of the name of the place.

Long time ago, there is a couple living in a small hut near the mountain. They are the poorest of the poor. They were accused by a rich individual for a crime they did not commit and they were imprisoned. Fortunately, they escaped and hide in the forest.

One day, the woman named Juana got sick. The husband doesn't know what to do to cure her wife back to health. Not far from the house of the couple are three mounds of almost the same shapes and sizes. These three mounds possesses mystery. At night these mounds are glowing and there  are some singing. The couple is unaware of the bizarre things happening because it happens midnight on a full moon.

One night, Juana got really sick so the husband was forced to go out and find some leaves and herbs to cure her wife. It was midnight and full moon so the man saw the peculiar phenomenon. He saw three dwarfs in the three mounds sitting and singing. The man was so terrified. He wants to run but he cannot that he was not aware that the dwarfs were in front of him. The three dwarfs asked the man what he is doing there at the middle of the night and the man tried hard to respond saying he needs some leaves and herbs to cure her wife from sickness. The three dwarfs took pity and they immediately came to see the sick Juana. After awhile, the three dwarfs told the man that his wife is healed. The couple thanked the dwarfs who before leaving respectfully introduced themselves as Le, Me and Re.

Many years had passed and couple bore many children but the three dwarfs never appeared to them again. The man always tell this story to their children.

One day a tree flourish in the middle of the three mounds. It grows so fast and became a giant wood. At night this tree is full of thousands of fireflies that looks like a huge lamp that shines through the darkness especially during moonless night.

When the Spaniards came, they asked about the name of the tree and the locals said Lemere. Shortly thereafter, they called the place Lemery.





Photo Source:

Jesse Losbañes Asuga from Lemery, Iloilo, Philippines Facebook Public Group 

Love Love Montaño from Sa KaBukiran Facebook Page

The Municipality Of Leganes

Leganes Plaza

Saad Festival Queen of Leganes, Iloilo

The town of Leganes emerges from a small community in 1840 called Sitio Guihaman because of the abundance of wild boar locally called guiham in the area. The first founders of the town gave the name "Valencia" in the place in honor of patron saint, St. Vincent Ferrer of Valencia, a town in Spain. After hearing of this community, Don Isidro A. Brudit, the then Spanish governor of Iloilo ordered in 1856 that the locales should register their town as a pueblo and if not, they will serve the penalty. In accordance with the order, the town was registered as a pueblo in 1858.

However it was not as orderly for everything in a small pueblo or town after its conversion however it was settled by people coming from the neighboring towns of Jaro and Santa Barbara. One of the founders, Don Miguel Valencia seems extremely honored because the community was called Valencia which was his last name. The people petitioned to change the name of the town. To solve the useless conflict, the Spaniards gave the name Leganes to the pueblo, the name of a town in Spain which was relatively unknown.




Photo Source:

www.youtube.com 

www.langyaw.com