Bol-anon

I have just came from a brief vacation in Bohol. Before I went home, I listed a few sites I planned to visit during my stay. One of them is Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Dauis, Bohol. I was not able to visit many of the sites I listed, but Dauis Church I did. I would like to share with you some pictures I took of the very amazing place recently declared by the National Historical Institute as a "national historical landmark".

Sometimes, when we are too close to something, we fail to see its beauty. This is probably the reason why there are still many Boholanos, especially those living at the coastal areas, who have yet to visit the viewing deck of the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol, or even the new one in Sagbayan, Bohol. Because we know it is just nearby, we sort of miss out on how extraordinary the thing is. It is exactly the same with the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon, Bohol, the second oldest stone Church in the Philippines. I don't think many really appreciate its place in the history of our country. Baclayon is a municipality which is 6 kilometers east of Tagbilaran City. It is Bohol's oldest municipality and the mother of 3 other municipalities, namely, Alburquerqe, Balilihan and Sikatuna. In Cebuano, "baclayon" means the distance that one needs to walk. This is probably the reason why the town was so named as it is located at the coast of Bohol sever...

I remember several years back, when my sisters and I were still students at the universities here in Manila, our parents decided to come here from Bohol for the Christmas season. On Christmas eve, just as we always did before, we prepared for noche buena . Then, at around 10pm, our father and mother started dressing up to attend the midnight mass. We were not exactly sure at that time if they did celebrate midnight masses on Christmas at the church a few blocks away. By then, firecrackers were already exploding on the streets one after another. Still, we could not help but really go to church that time. Imagine all the firecrackers exploding, the smoke, tires burning on the streets, and there we were, one big family trying to reach the church. When we got there we learned, the church was closed. The midnight mass on Christmas eve is just one of the things I miss about Christmas in Bohol. In Manga (a district of Tagbilaran City), where I attended many midnight masses as a child, we alwa...

You see them, town after town in Bohol. Aside from the white sands of Panglao, the Chocolate Hills, the Hinagdanan Cave, the Mag-aso Falls, and the Loboc River Cruise, a big part of Bohol's come-on are the old churches. Most have long history that you can almost feel just by looking at them. The Loboc Church, for example, has a history of music, a history which continues with the Loboc Children's Choir.