Every month of May, La Jolla Luxury Beach Resort celebrates Pista sa Nayon to embrace and share our proud Filipino culture. Santacruzan or “Holy Cross” in Spanish, is a historical religious procession which resembles the search for Queen Helena— mother of the first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great— to the cross where Jesus died. This Filipino tradition is usually held at the end of May.
Last May 27, 2023, their 2nd Santacruzan was held as a beautiful expression of cultural pride and tradition among Filipinos. Their stunning Reyna Elenas were unveiled carrying their respective representations and little girls dressed in white with their angel wings made a procession around the town proper to remind us of its religious origin and flaunt how stylishly fashionable their designer gowns were.
During the parade, locals gathered in the streets to watch the “mag-aalay” perform cultural dances with their colorful ensembles. Due to the love of the Filipinos for innovation and their penchant for creativity, the current adaptation of this religious practice has considered a recently crowned beauty queen titlist as our Reyna Elena- Ms. Patricia Candelaria. She was crowned as the Binibining Bagac last 2019. Below are the list of Reyna Elenas to highlight more of their religious meanings:
▪ Reyna Luna carrying a moon, the footstool of Mary as the Woman of the Apocalypse ▪ Reyna del Santisimo Rosario carrying a rosary- the symbol of Devotion to Mary ▪ Reyna Candelaria carrying a long lit candle symbolizing the Purification of Mary ▪ Reyna ng Pananampalataya carrying a cross that embodies our faith
▪ Reyna ng Pag-asa carrying an anchor representing salvation, steadfast belief, and hope and faith in Christ
▪ Reyna ng Pag-ibig carrying a heart which is the center or core of our being, from which prayer and moral actions originate
▪ Kaban ng Tipan carrying the ten (10) commandments
▪ Pinto ng Langit carrying the Heaven’s Door which shows the true blessing is in God’s grace to be felt in His kingdom
▪ Talang Maliwanag carrying a bright star embodying the light of hope of salvation in the midst of darkness
▪ Magpagaling ng may Sakit carrying a crutch that relieves pain
▪ Luklukan ng Karunungan carrying a bible and is the Seat of Wisdom
▪ Ina ng Diyos carrying Santo Niño, an image of the Christ child
▪ Ina ni Kristo carrying the Latin acronym for Jesus Hominum Salvator, chosen to give birth to Jesus ▪ Ina ng Santa Iglesia carrying the Holy Church
▪ Ina ng Mabuting Kahatulan carrying a scale for good judgement
▪ Reyna ng Kapayapaan carrying a dove symbolizing peace, hope and freedom ▪ Reyna ng mga Pamilya carring the Holy Family
▪ Reyna Elena carrying the cross as a sign that she saw the cross that saved humanity. She is accompanied by a boy called “Constantino” that represents Emperor Constantine.
Over the years, the unrestrained display of these biblical characters and symbolic figures participating in the procession made the attributes to the Blessed Virgin even more significant.
Additionally, on the 28th of May 2023, their 2nd La Jolla Fiesta was also celebrated to reminisce classic Palarong Pinoy that made up the childhood of every Filipino. A mix of La Jolla employees and resort guests participated improving their esprit de corps. Some of the carnival games were color game, number game, ring toss, bucket toss, balloon dart and color wheel. Moreso, traditional games were also readily
available by the beach area such as agawan panyo, sack race, agawan buko, kadang-kadang, limbo, and palosebo. Interestingly, the Schools Division Office of Caloocan City generously pledged certain amount of monetary prize that made the palosebo an exciting game for the resort’s group of Ground Maintenance.
This yearly resort event definitely embraces and shares our proud Filipino culture! It portrays our religious belief and keeps adults young at heart at the same time. Hopefully, our next Pista sa Nayon will be more remarkable through our collective efforts for its success.
