Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Morions of Marinduque

Faces of Moriones Festival
The story goes like this... Longinus is the centurion who pierced the side of our Lord while he was hanging on the cross. Longinus, who was nearly blind, was healed when some of the blood and water from Jesus fell into his eyes. It was then he exclaimed "Indeed, this was the son of God!". Longinus then converted, left the army, took instruction from the apostles and became a monk in Cappadocia. There he was arrested for his faith, his teeth forced out and tongue cut off.

However, Longinus miraculously continued to speak clearly and managed to destroy several idols in the presence of the Governor. The Governor, who was made blind by the demons that came from the idols, had his sight restored when Longinus was being beheaded, because his blood came in contact with the Governor's eyes.

St. Longinus' relics are now in the Church of St. Augustine in Rome. His lance is contained in one of the four pillars over the altar in the Basilica of Saint Peter's also in Rome. And his story is celebrated every year during Holy Week in Marinduque known as the Moriones Festival.

Lenten Warriors

Angry Faces

Gruesome Whipper

Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Handsome Warrior

Put Your Head on My Knee

One-Shut-Eyed Morion

Futuristic Morion

Clean Cut Morion

Lady Morions

19 comments:

  1. Such interesting history and a superb mosaic, Oman! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

    Sylvia

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  2. my eye is on the handsome centurion---i'm glad he didn't wear a mask.:p

    i wonder what these masks are made of...it is resin/fiberglass? i love how these masks were sculpted, fabulous details.

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  3. the pictures are so clear! Now, I know the reason behind the Moriones Festival, before I don't have a background why it is being celebrated.

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  4. Those faces look fierce. No wonder kids are afraid of them.

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  5. stunning photos, atty! :)
    i've always wanted to experience marinduque festival during holy week but schedule and budget are always elusive.
    anyway, have you ever asked how much those masks cost?
    i heard, i don't if it's true that these beautiful lenten masks are made from bark of trees. can you confirm?

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  6. that one-shut-eyed morion is longinus. haha.

    namimiss ko na ang marinduque and its festival na napaka religious..

    did you watch the senakulo on the eve of black saturday? nakakaaliw ang depiction nila sa story ni longinus.

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  7. They are wearing very colorful masks. i love the pictures, very very alive!

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  8. They are not scary at all. I even find them very colorful. It's more fun in the Philippines talaga.

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  9. The first and hopefully not the last time that i watched the Moriones was in holy week of 1996, a month after one of the country's worst environmental mining disaster happened when more than 2.5 million metric tons of mine tailings were discharged to the Boac River from the MarCopper's Tapian pit.

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  10. This is what makes visiting Marinduque during Holy Week a unique experience - nowhere else in the Philippines. One look at the mask and you know what it is.

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  11. very colorful pics.. what a treat for a photobug to be at this festival :)

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  13. Beautiful post Lawstude. Awaiting for more.

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  15. it's really fun to see some variety of morions. i particularly like the futuristic one.

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  16. Interesting story... now I now why they wear the Roman armor during the festival. Great shots as usual.

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  17. I love Marinduque but going there on Holy Week is really chaotic. I hope that officers concerned in port in Dalahican can do improved and develop a system where tourists will not wait for alamost half a day just to go to Marinduque.

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