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January
24, 2002
Hubo, the ritual
By Jenara Regis Newman
According
to Fr. Ambrosio Galindez, OSA, "hubo" came
about because there are a lot of people who want to
have the privilege of giving the Santo Niño His
garments. So every year He always has new clothes.
In
the old days, he continues, the Santo Niño ritual
dressing was done in the relative privacy of the convento's
large sala. Then the privilege of dressing the Santo
Niño belonged to a group of Spanish women. With
the Filipinization of the congregation, the privilege
of dressing the Niño also changed hands.
This
time, it was the Filipino women's turn to dress the
Niño. But the crowd in the sala became so numerous
that around 1990, the congregation decided to make the
ritual public so all the devotees who wish to can witness
the Hubo.
With
this change in the ritual, the dressing became the task
of the priest chosen to officiate it. The ritual is
incorporated in the Mass, done usually before or after
the Gospel, depending on the officiating priest.
Removed
in the following order are the crown; then the orb and
scepter and armlet (or vambrace); the bands; the cape;
the tunic; the inner garments; and finally the boots.
With each item of clothing removed, invocations, commemorating
Christ's suffering and death, are said.
The
naked Niño is then dipped into a basin of water
for His "bath", after which the Niño
is dressed in his new garments in the following order:
His inner garments, then His boots, His tunic, His bands,
His cape, His scepter and orb and armlet, and finally
His crown. Every piece put on the Santo Niño
is also accompanied by prayers, this time invoking the
glory of His resurrection.
The
part the devotees eagerly wait for then follows: the
water in which the Niño was "bathed"
is sprinkled on the crowd.
After
this, the Mass goes on, and the fiesta festivities officially
close. But not the devotion to the Santo Niño
which goes on and on, becoming more fervent and the
devotees becoming more numerous with every grace, both
spiritual and material, that comes from this miraculous
Child. Pit Senyor!
(The
Hubo ritual takes place at 4 a.m. Friday at the Pilgrim
Center, to be officiated by Fr. Candido Saladaga, OSA.
Masses will be held at the Pilgrim Center every hour,
on the hour, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. sponsored by the
Cofradia chapters here and abroad.)
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