redmark: Festivities, blessed pandesal mark Pistang Polo 2009 in Valenzuela City

Valenzuela City is once again celebrating the feast of San Diego de Alcala from November 3 to 12.

San Diego de Alcala was a Spanish lay brother in

1500s who would stash loaves of bread under his cloak he meant to share with the poor. The bread miraculously turned into stalks of roses after he was summoned on grounds of suspicion.

This year, the tradition, which is rooted to the more than 300 years of history of Valenzuela, continues with City Mayor Sherwin T. Gatchalian as Hermano Mayor. One of the highlights this year is the blessing and distribution of thousands of pandesal, which are believed to bring miracles in the lives of those who join the celebration.

Pistang Polo is the oldest and the grandest celebration of its kind in the city. The Parish of San Diego de Alcala of the old town of Polo marks the feast day with a tradition of festivities and reverence to its patron saint that made pandesal as an instrument of sharing God’s blessings and of man’s compassion to others.

This slice of life in Polo is even remarkably epitomized by National Hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal in his celebrated classic novel Noli Me Tangere in his fictitious town of San Diego. The chapter was aptly called “The Eve of the Fiesta,” that tells of “space is filled with noise and music, and the air is saturated with rejoicings.”

The City of Valenzuela invites the public to join the festivities.

Nov. 3, 2009

Start of Novena

4:00 P.M. Paseo (City Band) Polo Area

5:00 P.M. Novena/Mass Church

8:00 P.M. Acoustic Band Competition Polo Plaza

Nov. 4, 2009

5:00 P.M. Novena/Mass Church

8:00 P.M. Dance Contest Polo Plaza

Nov. 5, 2009

5:00 P.M. Novena/Mass Church

8:00 P.M. Accoustic Band Competition Polo Plaza

Nov. 6, 2009

5:00 P.M. Novena/Mass Church

8:00 P.M. Dance Contest Polo Plaza

Nov. 7, 2009

8:00 A.M. Jobs Fair Covered Court

Medical Mission Polo Plaza