Santacruzan

01 June 2006

Hello everyone, and the happiest of birthdays to leRoi!

For us out here, summer is almost over because on June 5 schooldays begin. It may interest all of you former Queensrow residents to know that we are building a new (and quite big) Parish Church just outside the house in Area B. A few years back, the residents started holding the traditional Santacruzan or Flores De Mayo.

As is wont for occasions like this, the Gay Population started to turn things into one humongous - and sometimes barf inducing - fashion show instead of the religious rite it was supposed to be. As most of you Da Vinci Code fans know, the Santacruzan actually is supposed to commemorate Queen Helen's search for three pieces from the Holy Cross. Queen Helen if I remember my Christian lore properly is the mother of King Constantine, the pagan monarch who saw how globally powerful Christianity could become and who convened the Council of Nicaea to draft what would become the guideposts for the practice of the Christian faith as we know it.

In any event, the good Parish Priest of Queensrow together with his clergy and the lay faithful decided that beginning 2005, the Santacruzan will no longer be a gay fashion show. Instead, they will hold a catechetical pageant involving biblical characters. And this is the part where Biboy comes in because he was the hands down choice to play Goliath.

Last year, Biboy was notified only two days before the parade but he still managed to cobble together a decent costume. This year, Biboy had a little more time - a couple of weeks - so he came up with the gold body armor in the picture. The rest of the characters are in the group shot. There actually 26 of them. Last year, there were 19 so the community is beginning to get into the spirit of things.

The body armor is actually made of foam-assisted rubber matting which Biboy cut and fashioned into what you see. If you guys look closely, the shield that Biboy is holding is actually the cover of a World War II vintage mess hall container that Lulan brought over to Manila from Red Beach in Palo, Leyte. The container came with the old dinner table you guys had in Area S. (That table is with me now.)

And that is what we did on our summer vacation.

Cheers, one and all!