Traslacion 2010

Rain poured sporadically as if following a divine script to give occasional shades of coolness to a hot Friday afternoon. Devotees from all corners of Bicolandia, young and old, men and women, lay and religious, paid homage to our Ina through the Traslacion Procession scheduled in the afternoon. Traslacion signals the start of the weeklong Grand Penafrancia Festivities. During this time, the image of our Ina and the Divino Rostro (Holy Face) are brought by barefooted Voyadores from her Shrine in Penafrancia Church to the Basilica through the main streets of the City.


My friends Emer and Elmer (Kambal) have agreed to rekindle our old Voyadores spirit by joining the Traslacion Procession. We knew it’s going to be a tough task for us considering we haven’t done it for quite some time now, and we only got the three of us to cover and muscle our way in against the much organized color-coded Voyadores Teams from the different parts of the city and the nearby towns. We knew the risk but the Voyadores inside of us prevailed, we are up for the challenge.


We were at the streets (Penafrancia Avenue) by 2 in the afternoon. During this time, the Traslacion Procession has already started comprising the different schools and civic organizations in the Region at the front. The image of the Divino Rostro is scheduled to be out by 3 in the afternoon and 30 minutes after that, the image of our Ina will follow. We waited for the images to be out by making ourselves busy with chats from fellow Voyadores whom we just met and by eating street foods offered by vendors as they pass. At 3:15pm, we saw the image of the Divino Rostro coming out of the church simultaneously with the continuous ringing of the church bells.


Waves of people, mostly Voyadores came rushing towards our direction as we stand at the middle of the street. The Voyadores came rushing from all directions to touch the image and the carriage from where the Divino Rostro was hoisted. I don’t really know each of their intentions but the manner from which they are rushing to grab a portion of the carriage is something that lacks (or extremely exceeds) religious fervor as they were unintentionally (and intentionally) hurting other Voyadores (and themselves) in the process. Same goes as the image of Ina passes by. Well, this has been a cultural practice hundred years ago but I personally believe that there has to be a major modification on this. Each Voyadores (and other devotees) at that can and should touch the image (or the carriage) of our Ina without the need of getting hurt. Besides, the image of Ina is displayed all year long at the Penafrancia Church for us to touch, why wait for the Traslacion if touching the image is the only reason? But then, there must be some restitution that comes within the “hurting process” as this can and may be a way of personal penance for all the mistakes each of us has done.


We joined the image of Ina during the entire procession. Barefooted, soaked and half-starved, we stayed in-line with thousands of other devotees until we reach the Basilica Shrine. Somewhere along the way, we caught glimpse of tired, exhausted and tipsy Voyadores who have just emerged from the carriage exchanging stories of how they get there and manage their way out. My friends and I would just look at each other listen to their escapades. At the back of our minds, we knew we have been there and we came to understand the deeper meaning of being a Voyadores. We need not barge our way in just to touch the image and the carriage. Amidst all the contemporary Voytadores practices that we have, it is FAITH in our Ina, HOPE in the Risen Lord, LOVE through SHARING what we have (what we are) are the values that matters the most.