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2012年10月28日 第3回マリアン・フェスティバル   N.C.  2012/12/7(金)
THE 3rd MARIAN FESTIVAL

Last October 28, 2012 the 3rd Marian Festival was held at Karasugamori Koen in Nasushiobara, Tochigi ken. It was a rainy day but it did not deter many Filipinos from the four prefectures of the Diocese to come to show their love and devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary who for them is “Mama Mary” (okaasan). The festival also was an opportunity to promote better intercultural exchange and mutual understanding among Filipinos, their Japanese families and other foreigners. Likewise, to raise funds for the formation of seminarians of the Diocese and continue sustaining the “Empowerment Program” of the Diocese for Filipino migrant returnees and their families.

The event started in the morning with a Living Rosary followed by Holy Eucharist with Bishop Tani Daiji as main celebrant and with two Filipino priests, Fr. Jack Serat, OFM and Fr. Ross de la Cruz, SS.CC as co-celebrants. A Cultural Presentation and Raffle Draw followed in the afternoon. Food booths selling traditional Filipino food were aplenty.

Noteable in this year’s festival was the great joy of the Filipinos in the recent canonization of the second Filipino saint Pedro Calungsod, by His Holiness Benedict XVI. A big picture of the saint was prominently displayed on the stage together with a huge backdrop of the face of Mama Mary and her statue in native Philippine dress. Another noteable feature was the active participation of many Filipino-Japanese children eg. in the Living Rosary, interpretative dance and singing during the mass and in the collection of offerings for the mass, an effort specially made by their mothers to little by little pass on the faith to the “next generation” by giving them concrete responsibilities in the festival. Last but not the least, the significant presence and support concretized in many ways by the Japanese parishioners of Ottawara Church and the selfless dedication of the many leaders specially from Tochigi considering it was a big event and a rainy day at that!