MANILA, Philippines – Filipinos celebrated the feast of John the Baptist on Monday, June 24, by observing traditions that mirror the life of one of the Catholic Church’s most famous saints. Barangay Bibiclat in the town of Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, marked the annual Taong Putik (Mud People) Festival on Monday, listed in the Catholic calendar as John the Baptist’s birthday. BLESSINGS.
A Catholic bishop blesses devotees with holy water during the annual Taong Putik Festival in Barangay Bibiclat, Aliaga, Nueva Ecija. Photo by Angie de Silva/Rappler Hundreds of residents of Bibiclat, a village of around 8,300 people , bathed themselves in mud and hung dried banana leaves on their bodies. By doing this, they sought to imitate the appearance of John the Baptist, who is described in the Gospel of Mark as having been “clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist” as he “fed on locusts and wild honey.
” REPENTANCE. The mud ritual on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist symbolizes conversion and new life. Photo by Angie de Silva/Rappler Covering themselves in mud symbolizes repentance from sin, the local parish said.
It highlights “the grace of the human being’s return to God, which John the Baptist proclaimed in the desert,” said the Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Saint John the Baptist in a Facebook post on Sunday, June 23. TRADITION. About 600 Catholics perform this annual ritual, excluding those who went to church only to hear Mass.
Photo by Angie de .
