January 9 each year is a special day in this particular part of Manila, the city’s geographic center known as Quiapo. This is the Feast of the Black Nazarene, that darkened Catholic icon which represented Jesus Christ carrying the cross that is beloved by many Catholics, a majority of which belong curiously to the male gender. On a sociological level, such a deep, fanatical as some might say, devotion of Catholic men to the “Nazareno” (as the Black Nazarene is called) can be considered a peculiarity at the very least as commonly in the realm of the Catholic faith, it is the women who exhibit such devotion. The Urban Roamer…
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A Path to Martyrdom: Rizal in Fort Santiago
Today, the nation marks the 112th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Philippines’ National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. (technically, he is not officially declared a national hero, but that’s another story) As it is during Rizal Day, many will surely commemorate this day by a visit Rizal Park or any of the Rizal-related places and shrines throughout the country, one of them surely would be the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago. This Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago used to be barracks of the soldiers who were stationed in the old Spanish fortification of Fort Santiago. Today, it is a quaint little museum that is home to some Rizal memorabilia like…
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Divisoria: Manila’s shopping mecca
Since it’s Christmas, the Urban Roamer presents to you one of Christmastime’s favorite shopping destinations. Then again, this place is an all-time favorite shopping destination Juan Dela Cruz Band’s “Divisoria” If there can only be one place that would be named as THE shopping mecca in the metropolis, it would not be some fancy mall or high-end shopping district. For many not only in Metro Manila but perhaps in the entire country as well, nothing equates shopping more than that famed district in Manila that we call “Divisoria.” But of course, Divisoria itself needs no further introduction. It has become such an iconic landmark destination that every one in the…
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Of railways, shopping, and Andres Bonifacio: the story of Tutuban Center
It may be hard to imagine it today, but this particular part of Manila at first did not look like the bustling, at times chaotic, place of commercial activity that we know of today. In fact, this area was then a thriving agricultural community where the people there make a living manufacturing a coconut-based alcoholic drink called “tuba.” It would be in this community along Azcarraga Street where a significant event would occur on November 30, 1863: the birth of who would become the founder of the secret society known as the Kataastaasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (otherwise known as the Katipunan or KKK) that would pave…