The Feast of St. John The Baptist had been enjoyed by a lot in various activities there are those of San Juan who will make you wet because the town is just so engrossed with this yearly activity to commemorate how St. John had been cleansed Jesus with water. And here is also becoming a very good way of celebration the Saints day through mud.
Last June 24, residents of Barangay Bibiclat in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija and devotees of St. John the Baptist celebrated the Taong Putik competition. well known attributable to its depiction within the 2006 Filipino horror film Sukob, this uniquely Filipino competition is in honor of the feast day of St. John the Baptist, rather like the water competition in San Juan on identical day.
Participants young and previous cowl themselves in mud and huge leaves. in contrast to in Sukob, most of the “mud people” or “taong putik” don't leave their homes till sunrise. They slowly create their method through the streets towards the church, posing for alms (money or candles) from neighbors along the method.
They are largely residents of Barangay Bibiclat during this farming city, regarding 138 kilometers north of Metro Manila, who are devotees of St. John the Baptist. they seem in public at dawn each June twenty four, the feast day of the saint.
St. John the Baptist is that the patron saint of Bibiclat and because it is customary in several areas within the country, his feast day is that the community’s designated fiesta celebration.
Elsewhere within the country, the feast day of St. John as per tradition is done by splashing water on travelers or passersby. It's meant to recollect how Jesus Christ was baptized by St. John.
Oddly, in Bibiclat, the ritual of “Pagsa-San Juan,” that later became the “Taong Putik competition,” is finished rather than the same old splashing of water.
On the eve of June twenty four, participants gather vines and banana leaves and use them to hide their bodies. the apparel is soaked during a mixture of mud and water beginning early evening till it's retrieved for the dawn ritual future day.
Before carrying the apparel, participants roll themselves during a rice field to hide their bodies with mud. they create positive enough mud is applied on their faces thus nobody can acknowledge them.
This ritual takes place in several places within the village between three and four a.m. of June 24.
By remodeling themselves into mud individuals, participants say they're able to emulate St. John the Baptist, who seems in most biblical tales as dressed sort of a beggar.
Before daybreak, the taong putik roam the village and raise for alms. The homeowners gladly oblige by giving them cash or candles within the belief that this may be compensated with blessings.
After such ritual is done participants gather in the church to hear Mass. once the Mass, devotees leave the church to scrub their bodies, the last a part of the ritual. They then be part of relatives and friends for the fiesta celebration.
Researchers from the Central Luzon State University within the Science town of Muñoz uncovered stories on how the ritual occurred.
One story tells regarding a picture of St. John the Baptist that helped residents drive away snakes that roamed Bibiclat within the early days. The name “Bibiclat” was from the word “biclat,” which is in Ilocano means for a snake.
