Journey to the unknown is not my passion although there are places I've been through my travelogue in my dreams and reality that seemed to complicate my idealogy and perspective in life. Let's call my journey to that specific geography to topology and geology. There are places I remember to be uninhabited until so many pilgrimage were then established for so many times. It was uninhabited because the one in power over the small village is then asked to have that island restored just for the few inhabitants.
The old folks or older villager Apo used to tell stories, ancient stories about their village and its people. It was almost like based on fantasy that the children never believe Lolo Apo. They don't have a name for the village at first. Lolo Apo named the island Mariana, named after their village patron which is the Virgin Mary. They have a bigger statue of the Virgin Mary outside the chapel. Boulders surround the small grotto and there is a small fish pond with lots of healthy gold fish swimming around and feasting on some kind of algae. According to Lolo Apo the gold fish never die. They were there for half a century and seemed to enjoy the water surrounding the natural pond. They don't know what miraculous nature the pond has created but the old people are afraid to touch them.
They keep the secret of the fish pond , besides too many stories relating to that "miracle" made them wary and worried that it might trigger so many visitors and strangers lurking and visiting the island which according to the old people is not good for the island's natural balance of existence.
That the anxiety is too much to bear they have to keep the island hidden from every strangers and opportunists exploiting the serenity, eden-like structure from the hills, verdant valley and natural vegetation and oh, the lovely beach, white sandy beach with shiny glitters of quartz almost so abundant on its shore. Along the island 's bounty water resource of pure pristine water that its purity there is no need to boil the water or have it processed through desalination nor ultra-violet rays is of no need because it is pure safe drinking water at its best.
There are so many secrets in the small island of Mariana. The villagers are then asked every month to vow on this serecy by having a pilgrimage on the 30th of every month.
Pilgrimage is done through series of rituals and encantations around the island. Sounds primitive but that's how life is over there. They still wear the ancient clothing, lovely beautiful sari and malong made from the finest fiber of jusi (pineapple fiber) and special fibers from other special fruits. Some fibers from abaca and jute. They also admire cotton tree and yantok tree which give so much products and are abundant in the island. Coconut groves are somewhat all over the place. They just appeared there in manner of every month there are hundreds of them sprouting like crazy...like a bulb sort of.
Secret. Secret! Secret!!!
In those years of secrecy there are only two group of villagers who functioned the most for the welfare of the people. They are called the Illuminatis and the other group called SS or the Secret Society. Both of these important group of religious group were then asked to have their duty and obligations to the island. The Illuminatis are supposed to be involved in the enlightenment program while the Secret Society is for the secrecy of that specific goal. They keep the secret to themselves and no one from outside the island should know the main purpose of their existence and their role in the village.
No comments:
Post a Comment