The Chair of St. Peter, Sta. Rosa’s other Iglesia

The Pink Church

While I was I biking towards Calamba I took a break to grab some refreshments in the vicinity of Balibago. I was not familiar with the place so I was surprised to see this wonderful pink painted church that has the appearance and appeal of an old stone church. I didn’t know that you could use that kind of color for a church and actually make it work (ot far from where I live, a family painted their house pink and the result was terrifying – a bloody eyesore). The choice of color for this church is attributed to the city’s patron saint, Sta. Rosa de Lima. The saint is always depicted in artworks surrounded by pinkish roses or crowned with it. She’s one of the patroness of the country and of course, Peru, her native land.

Pink Bell Tower

This church, along with the Sto. Nino de Cebu of Southwoods, were constructed with tradition in mind. This is a recent phenomena – we are now going back to our roots. Although no longer constructed using materials that made our old churches resilient, the design is noticeably patterned after the pioneer churches.

Thoughts on Heritage Awareness

More and more photographers and writers are featuring old churches these days. This is a welcome development because four years ago it was very different. There were very few that tackled conservation and now I think this generation is slowly picking up the message – the importance of conserving what’s left of our heritage churches.

Young people are beginning to appreciate the past and how rediscovering it means to them. A doctor friend wrote me that these days couples are naming their children the traditional way. All of a sudden, what many consider as baduy are cool again! They now see naming their children after the grandparents and santos as something Filipino.

I told that Doctor friend that in 50 years time (if this world can still support life!) Filipinos will once again speak Spanish and with this, all the other Filipino languages will flourish – like it did in the old days. Its strange that when Filipino terra was under Spanish rule, the local languages experienced a golden era, we had literature in all the languages. Now, we are nowhere near that situation. Worst, there are dying Filipino languages out there – and it’s not being talk about!

I think the time to bring the curtain down for this site is near. A lot of young people has already picked up the advocacy and there will be more. I’m very pleased with this rise in interest for heritage. This is the crowning achievement of the first generation of what I call Filipino heritage bloggers.

A historian friend once told me that not all people are gifted with the “eye” to admire heritage because its history has been drowned with overwhelming falsehood. For a person to appreciate and advocate the conservation of these churches and bahay na bato he said, “one literally have to go back to the books and research, apply logic and be guided by the spirits of the ancestors”.

I feel that little by little we are getting there. I’m excited for our youth. Especially those who are working tirelessly to put the message out.