Bocaue Pagoda Festival
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Status | Active |
Frequency | 1st Sunday of July |
Venue | Bocaue River |
Location(s) | Bocaue, Bulacan |
Country | Philippines |
Established | 1850 |
Participants | Residents of Bocaue, Devotees of the Holy Cross of Wawa |
Activity | Pagoda river procession, holy mass, novena, entertainment events |
The Bocaue Pagoda Festival, also known as the Bocaue River Festival, is an annual religious celebration in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines. It is best-known for its river procession dedicated to the Catholic relic, the Holy Cross of Wawa (Tagalog : Krus sa Wawa).
The Bocaue River Festival's devotion is connected to the Holy Cross of Wawa. Made of wood, it was found rushing through the Wawa section of the Bocaue River during a typhoon in 1850. Local legend says a drowning woman clung to the Cross and was saved, an event later deemed a miracle. The Cross was retrieved and enshrined in a riverside church; the timber of the object is believed to have come from an old, burnt-down church. A fluvial parade has been held since then as tribute to the relic. [1] [2] [3]
In 1993, the large, ceremonial barge called the pagoda that carries the Cross sank due to overloading. The accident came to be known as the Bocaue Pagoda tragedy. The procession was scaled down until 2014 when a "grand pagoda" featured again in the festival. [2] [4] [5] Celebrations were limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Cross borne by a government yacht instead. [3]
The Bocaue River Festival is observed every first Sunday of July, in honor of the Holy Cross of Wawa. [5] The Cross, enshrined at Saint Martin of Tours Parish Church, is considered miraculous by devotees. [6]
The highlight is the fluvial procession with the pagoda as its centrepiece. [7] The Cross itself, or a replica, is placed on top of the pagoda for this procession. [5] A custom is the ligiran (from the word "surround"), where smaller boats encircle the pagoda. [8] The Lutina or nine-day novena is also held, while the municipal government also hold other entertainment events as part of the festivities. [7]
Since 2014, a mass is also said on the floating pagoda to pray for victims of the 1993 tragedy, the barge moored over the exact place in the river where the overloaded pagoda sank. [1]
Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan, is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Metro Luzon Urban Beltway Super Region.
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Bocaue, officially the Municipality of Bocaue, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 141,412 people.
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According to the Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta, after attaining parinirvana, the body of Buddha was cremated and the ashes divided among his lay followers.
The Bocaue Pagoda Tragedy was a fatal accident that occurred on July 2, 1993, during the Bocaue River Festival in Bocaue, Bulacan, in the Philippines. The accident was the result of the festivities' centerpiece – a floating pagoda – sinking, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people.
The Saint Martin of Tours Parish Church, also known as the Diocesan Shrine of the Holy Cross of Wawa is a Roman Catholic church in Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines. The church is one of the oldest in Bulacan, having been founded by Franciscan missionaries in 1606. It hosts the Holy Cross of Wawa, a wooden relic believed to be miraculous by devotees, which is the centerpiece of the recurring Bocaue River Festival.