Dear Lady of Fatima, we come on bended knee
To beg your intercession for peace and unity.
Dear Mary, won't you show us the right and shining way?
We pledge our love and offer you a rosary each day.
You promised at Fatima each time that you appeared
To help us if we pray to you to banish war and fear.
Dear Lady, on first Saturdays we ask your guiding hand
For grace and guidance here on earth and protection for our land.
May 26th 2012. After a crazy day in the office, went straight to Dangwa to buy flowers. Since it was May, prices of the flowers are at an all time high. The Flores de Mayo activity is the only activity that has been started in our subdivision that continues on until this day...I guess as long as there are kids running around our streets this tradition will endure.
Our simple Flores de Mayo in our subdivision..."stage moms" also present
This would be the first time that my tableau of the Apparition of Our Lady in Fatima will be processed after three years. Since I was "promoted" to help out in the Parish activities (versus our chapel) I had to re-prioritize the activities I participated in...so little time so many things to do...
The Sagalas and the Procession
The Flores De Mayo activity is considered as one of the major activities in the country since its conception during the Spanish Times. Right now, it goes beyond the confines of the Catholic tradition, but is basically held for its pageantry...but one thing remains, girls or "dalagitas" are dressed beautifully in long, sparkling gowns. Another similar activity is called the Santacruzan. I am not sure which came first or was the derivative of the other but the difference between the two is the theme or core of the procession. The Flores De Mayo activity is marian activity starting from the month long flower offering to Mary and culminating in a procession wherein the different titles of the Virgin are each represented by a "dalaga." The Santacruzan on the other hand focuses on "Reyna Elena" or St. Helen, mother of the great Roman King, Constantine who liberated Christianity from persecution. The Santacruzan reenacts St. Helen's search for the relics of Christ's cross.
From day clothes to evening wear...the children were all dressed up to the delight of the neighborhood...not much but children do have a way of making a community relaxed and happy. Some participants are way too young to even understand why there are waving to the crowd and yet they do it...soooo cute!
Winding around the streets of the subdivision...
With "Arcos" or not: These denotes the role or title a "Dalaga" has in the procession, the biggest and best is reserved for the Reyna Elena.
The subdivision became one huge catwalk...
Our Lady of Fatima
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, appeared six times to three shepherd children near the town of Fatima, Portugal between May 13 and October 13, 1917. Appearing to the children, the Blessed Virgin told them that She had been sent by God with a message for every man, woman and child living in our century. Coming at a time when civilization was torn asunder by war and bloody violence, She promised that Heaven would grant peace to all the world if Her requests for prayer, reparation and consecration were heard and obeyed. The Story of Fatima.
Our Lady of Fatima explained to the children that war is a punishment for sin and warned that God would further castigate the world for its disobedience to His Will by means of war, hunger and the persecution of the Church, the Holy Father and the Catholic Faithful. God's Mother prophesied that Russia would be God's chosen "instrument of chastisement," spreading the "errors" of atheism and materialism across the earth, fomenting wars, annihilating nations and persecuting the Faithful. The Story of Fatima.
O Mother Immaculate, we come to you today
To honour and beg you: Teach us how to pray
For justice and holiness to permeate our lands
And grace from God our Father to follow His commands.
O Virgin most holy to you we consecrate
Our lives, our possessions, and this apostolate.
O Queen of the heavens, invoke your glorious Son
To save us so that all of us will see His Kingdom come.
In all Her appearances at Fatima, the Blessed Mother repeatedly emphasized the necessity of praying the Rosary daily, of wearing the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel and of performing acts of reparation and sacrifice. To prevent the terrible chastisement at the hands of Russia and to convert "that poor nation", Our Lady requested the solemn public Consecration of Russia to Her Immaculate Heart by the Pope and all the Catholic bishops of the world. She also asked that the Faithful practice a new devotion of reparation on the first Saturday of five consecutive months. The Story of Fatima.
The heart of Our Lady's Message to the world is contained in what has come to be called the "Secret" which She confided to the three child seers in July 1917. The Secret actually consists of three parts, the first two of which have been publicly revealed. The first part of the Secret was a horrifying Vision of hell "where the souls of poor sinners go" and contained an urgent plea from Our Lady for acts of prayer and sacrifice to save souls. The secohell4.jpg - 9.6 Knd part of the Secret specifically prophesied the outbreak of World War II and contained the Mother of God's solemn request for the Consecration of Russia as a condition for world peace. It also predicted the inevitable triumph of Her Immaculate Heart following Russia's consecration and the conversion "of that poor nation" to the Catholic Faith.
The last part of the Secret (often called the "Third Secret") has not yet been made public, but was written down by Lucy Dos Santos, the last living Fatima seer, in 1944 and has been in the possession of the Holy See since 1957. Most informed sources speculate that this portion of the Secret concerns chaos in the Catholic Church, predicting widespread apostasy and a loss of faith beginning in the seventh decade of the 20th Century. The Story of Fatima.
Added butterflies to the floral arrangement to add color matching the festive mood of the occassion.
After the procession, moved what's left of the flowers to the altar...til' next year.
