ILOILO City – For the second straight year, the religious and district fiesta celebration of Jaro district on Feb. 2 – one of the biggest in the country – will be scaled back dramatically due to the coronavirus disease pandemic.
There will be no carnival (Jaro Agro-Industrial and Charity Fair), according to the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) of Jaro.
No fiesta queen will be crowned.
There will be no religious procession, too, according to Father Angelo Colada, director of the Archdiocese of Jaro’s Commission on Social Communications.
Annually, prior to the pandemic that started in 2020, thousands of devotees here and abroad flocked the century-old Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral. They queued to touch the image of Nuestra Señora dela Candelaria (Our Lady of Candles), the Virgin Mary, displayed at the cathedral’s balcony and believed to be miraculous.
The yearly highlight until the pandemic struck was the solemn afternoon procession participated by the fiesta queen and consort, fiesta princesses and consorts, various schools and the district barangays bearing religious banners, St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary, St. Joseph Regional Seminary, parish priests and assistant priests. Members of various church organizations also joined.
According to Colada, this year there would only be Masses on Feb. 2 – a total of 21.
Eight of these Masses will be celebrated inside the Cathedral.
The 13 other Masses will be at the grotto on the cathedral grounds.
Colada also said vendors won’t be allowed to sell perdon candles inside the cathedral compound. They can do so only outside the compound.
Physical distancing should be strictly observed, Colada stressed./PN
