Traslacion

This year's traslacion is a welcome mixture of old and new practices. Intended to enjoin more devotees toward a more solemn and prayerful participation, the traslacion procession returns to its original route of commencing at the Peñafrancia Shrine (instead of the Basilica Minore) and ending at the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. Similarly intended, the new order of the procession entails the assembly of student-participants at an earlier time than was previously practiced: in the morning, instead of around mid-day.

The decision to revert to the "old" route of the traslacion reminds devotees of how the practice of this particular procession originated. Marking the beginning of the novena to Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the traslacion was the solemn transfer of INA's image from the Peñafrancia Shrine's relatively small edifice to the larger accommodations provided by the Naga Cathedral for INA's numerous pilgrims.  To trod the traslacion's old route recalls for us how previous generations of Naga devotees generously accommodated pilgrims wanting to visit INA during her novena. It recalls for us that sharing the devotion to INA animates the life of the devotee.

The earlier assembly of student-participants to the traslacion, in the meantime, aids in educating the next generation of devotees on the essence of the procession as well as the feast that is being celebrated. It counters the perception that the traslacion is a grand secular spectacle in which male-participants drink to the point of near-stupor or tipsiness and then exhibit rowdy behavior. The earlier schedule of the traslacion this year is an effort to return the procession to its solemn and prayerful practice.

These changes effected this year respond to a prevalent attitude about INA's fiesta which had crept in steadily among many, that is, the fiesta is a magnificent marketing event for varied commercial products: from softdrinks to alcoholic libations, to all sorts of things. A case in point is the banderitas printed with products' brand names (instead of being simply without them as was the case before) spread out in Naga's centro; they are particularly revealing of this perception of the fiesta.

The changes in this year's traslacion remind us that the procession is concerned with the devotion to Jesus' mother. It is solemn and prayerful in its nature. The traslacion like the Fiesta it heralds is not, and must not be, practiced as a huge marketing convention. To do so betrays the devotion that underlies the essence of what we celebrate every September.