Community shares heritage through traditional festivities

Friday, Jul. 18, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — Misang Bayan, the Filipino community of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, hosts six traditional events a year to share their cultural heritage with Catholics and the community at large to foster and keep the traditions of the Philippines alive in Utah.

Misang Bayan was formed 16 years ago so the Filipino community could meet for a monthly bilingual Mass in English and Tagalog, the native language of the Philippines. The Filipino Mass is celebrated at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Salt Lake City on the first Sunday of each month at 3:30 p.m. A potluck of traditional Filipino food follows. 

The yearly activities begin with the Lenten season and the Living Stations of the Cross.  Family houses in selected neighborhoods are assigned to host a station in areas such as Sandy, Salt Lake City or North Salt Lake City, where many Filipinos live, and the front of each house is decorated. The area rotates every year. 

Next is the Fiesta ng Bayan, or feast in the park, which includes traditional Filipino games, prizes and a picnic of traditional Filipino delicacies. 

The Fiesta is followed by the Bishop’s Mass in late summer at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. 

The Simbang Gabi tradition is shared at nine different parishes throughout the diocese during Advent from Dec. 15 to Dec. 24, with a Christmas Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish on Dec. 25 (Pasko ng Bayan).

Santacruzan is celebrated every other year in May, the month of Mary, and is a procession of young women who are chosen as queens and their escorts, children dressed as angels, and a statue of Our Lady of Manaoag carried on a pedestal followed by devotees praying the rosary to honor the Blessed Virgin.