Proem

Advance Happy fiesta and Labor Day to the people of Tagbilaran City. Do you know that these two events are not supposed to be held on May 1?

Tagbilaran Fiesta

The Patron Saint of the town of Tagbilaran is Saint Joseph, the husband of Mother Mary and the foster father of Jesus Christ.

The feast day of Saint Joseph is March 19. Do you know the story why it was transferred to May 1 of the year? Here is the story.

March 19 always fall within the Lenten season. During the Lenten season Roman Catholics are prohibited to eat meat. The people of Tagbilaran did not like to celebrate a fiesta without any meat. So the people celebrate the fiesta only with a Holy Mass and some entertainment, especially a cockfight.

To celebrate a fiesta complete with a banquet, the residents of Poblacion I of Tagbilaran celebrated the feast of their Patron Saint Virgen del Rosario (Our Lady of Rosary) on October 7. Not to be outdone, the residents of Poblacion II of Tagbilaran also celebrated the feast of their Patron Saint Virgen del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pilar) on October 12. The dates were too close to each other that activities done by the two districts could be compared. Eventually there arose a keen competition between Poblacion I and Poblacion II. If Poblacion I exhibits a horse fight, the next week Poblacion II would try to out do it with a carabao fight. If one district would exhibit a drama, the other would exhibit a zarzuela, etc.

Eventually the animosity became too intense that it spill out into the field of politics and love life. In the 1920s, it was difficult for someone in Poblacion I to fall in love with someone in Poblacion II.

On November 8, 1941, Bohol was declared a new diocese with Tagbilaran as the seat of the bishopric. Since it was the time of the Second World War, Bishop Julio Rosales was not able to take over his bishopric. He arrived after the war in 1946. Bishop Rosales tried to lessen the rivalry of Poblacion I and Poblacion II beause it was becoming too expensive with practically three fiestas in Tagbilaran. However, Bishop Rosales was not able to solve completely the problem.

In 1952 Bishop Julio Rosales was assigned to Cebu and Bishop Manuel Mascariñas took over on January 30, 1952. Bishop Mascariñas was a Boholano from the town of Antequera. He was familiar with the problem in Tagbilaran.

In 1955, Pope Pius XII enunciated the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker to be celebrated on May 1 of the year. Bishop Manuel Mascariñas found his chance to solve the problem in Tagbilaran. He immediately reassigned St. Joseph the foster father to St. Joseph the Worker and made May 1 as the feast day of Tagbilaran. He therewith prohibited a sumptuous celebration of Virgen del Pilar and Virgen del Rosario.

After an initial resistance, eventually the people of Tagbilaran accepted May 1 as the fiesta of Tagbilaran City. However, Tagbilaran residents in Manila and U.S.A. still celebrate March 19 as the fiesta of Tagbilaran.

May 1 Labor Day

In the United States and Canada the official holiday dedicated to Labor Day is the first Monday of September.

We all know that the Philippines look to the United States as a model. The question is, why did we not adopt the fist Monday of September as Labor Day?

May 1 was selected by Socialist and Communist countries as their Labor Day. When the Philippines decided to establish a Labor Day, the labor organizations in the Philippines were generally left leaning. To buy some peace in the labor scene, our lawmakers decided to use May 1 as the Labor of the Philippines.

In the early part of the 1950s, May 1 was the occasion of lively celebrations of Labor Day. However, when Tagbilaran transferred its fiesta to May 1, the Labor Day celebration was relegated to the sideline and now it is practically forgotten. Even if our officials would want to celebrate Labor Day, nobody would be interested because it is the fiesta of Tagbilaran City.