Lay witness to my so-called fundamental existence.

From Paete, we moved to the next town which is famous for the Turumba Festival.

It’s a festival that is observed between April and May or within the Lenten Season starting on Palm Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. The pilgrims call it Pistang Lupi. The central focus of the celebration is the Nuestra Señora de los Dolores or Our Lady of Sorrows. A huge crowd, some are the sickly and the invalid, would flock to Pakil to sing and dance in prayer that is the Turumba.

The oil painting of the Mater Dolorosa at the right was said to be the painting that was found by fishermen in Laguna de Bay. Story has it that it was one of the relics from a ship that was wrecked in the lake; the painting belonged to a missionary.  The fishermen left the painting on a rock. The women saw it there and told the parish priest about the relic, which in turn gathered the sextons and the clergy and brought the image to the church. They carried the relic to Pakil in song, dance and prayer.

As for the etymology of the Turumba, several origins were suggested. It could have been derived from the local work “turo” and “umbay”. Turo means to point while umbay refers to the elegiac poem or that of a slow and mournful music for the dead.

Some would say that Turumba was the sound of a drumbeat when the image of the Mater Dolorosa was paraded in a procession around town. Devotees carry Her in an anda on their shoulders and paraded Her in the streets of Pakil. They are accompanied by people who stomped their feet, danced and gyrated in a song of prayer and to the two-step beat.

Turumba is said to be one of the longest festivals in the country because it spans to at least 7 weeks of song and prayer. There is also a Grand Turumba Festival held every September 15  in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows. Pakil also celebrates the feast of San Pedro de Alcantara every October. But the biggest drawer of devotees and pilgrims is the Turumba Festival in the months of April and May.

The sleepy town of Pakil comes to life during the Turumba Festival. The center of activity is the old church of San Pedro de Alcantara. It’s an 18th century baroque structure with a façade that has clearer ionic and corinthian details than it’s neighboring Paete church. The convento which now houses the parochial office is attached to the church’s left side.

The church itself is Pakil’s main tourist attraction. Huge crowd of daytrippers and students visit Pakil on weekends. Tour guides lead them to the old religious and art pieces that are mostly carved from or made of wood done by the town’s craftmen. There is also a huge painting of Judicium Finale similar to Paete’s. The retablos and the altar are also intricately designed. I was reminded of how we embraced horror vaccui or the fear of empty spaces.

Visitors marveled on the collection of icons, all 14 of them at the main altar with St. Michael the Archangel on top. Several sets of statues placed in ornate wooden niches can be found at the sides and at the ends of the transept.

One of the most intriguing artwork in this church is the Judicium Finale by the Paeteño Jose Dans. Daniel Murphy had an interesting article about the painting which deliberately depicted the stratum of hell with only women in it. A painting at the Paete Church of the same subject of El Cielo, El Paraiso, El Purgatorio y El Infierno didn’t have the same perspective of hell.

A few step away from the church is the ancestral house of Danny Dalena. A typical bahay na bato, the house was reconstructed and converted into a museum. It is said that some of his artworks are on display in the museum. Unfortunately, Mr. Dalena was not available at that time, so we just had to look at the house-cum-museum from afar.

In this town, the dying art of whittling can still be found. If Paete is known for its wood carving industry, Pakil was once known for its whittled products. There is a clear divide between carving and whittling. The former is more of a European woodworking technique while the latter is more of an American style. They differ also in the tools they use. Carving may use a broad range of chisel and carving tools while whittling only utilizes a knife to shave off wood. Others deem the art of whittling as more of hobby unlike the art of carving which has, for centuries, been considered as a profession. Carving they say is a more advanced form of craft than whittling.

We were led to a shop of whittled products a few blocks from the Pakil church. Mr. San Gaspar had already prepared his tools for a brief demonstration of whittling. Whittlers only need a knife and a stick. I saw how he patiently shave off portions and portions of raw wood. A slow yet delicate process of cutting and paring unnecessary layers of wood, it lead to wonderful shapes like peacocks, butterflies, flowers and fans.

The art of whittling should be passed on to the next generation of Pakileños, otherwise, it may suffer a similar fate as the Taka of Paete. A dying artform in the Philippines, I just wish that whittling will not be shaved off from wooden cup of local arts and crafts. 

Next and final stop: Angono, Rizal