Leyte - I Shall Return
Leyte is one of the provinces in the Philippines that are considered to be underdeveloped or economically less fortunate. This is due to the less than ideal topography of the province. The rough terrain is often times lashed by typhoons during the rainy season months so that it is pretty rare for agriculture to have bumper harvest. Additionally, trade is relatively less given that of other nearby more popular provinces in the area that gain control most of the trade in the region.
Leyte however is rich in history. This is one of the country’s provinces that have made a great contribution in shaping the history of the Philippines. The Warays (people on the eastern part of Leyte) and the Cebuanos (people on the west side of Leyte) are proud of their rich and important past. This fact was further attested by the seal of the province. The upper portion of the seal honors the landing of US Forces headed by General Douglas McArthur; the letters on the cross signifies the passage of Magellan on the way to Cebu and the stars represents the 49 towns of Leyte province.
The very first Catholic mass in the country was held in Limasawa when Magellan and his men arrived in March 28, 1521.True to the hospitable trait of the natives, a friendly reception was arranged to welcome the foreigners. Magellan and Kulambo, the local chieftain made a blood compact to signifying that both accept each other as a brother. The first mass that was held on March 31, 1521 was participated in by most of the natives. Leyte was again prominently featured in the history of the Philippines when the US liberation troops landed in the shores of Leyte during World War II. General Douglas MacArthur landed at Palo, south of Tacloban on October 20, 1944 with his historical words of “I Shall Return” promise fulfilled on that day.
In recent years, Tolosa, a city in Leyte gained nationwide recognition as it is the hometown of former first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos. Tolosa greatly benefited from the luck of Imelda to be a first lady as substantial funds were poured for growth and development of the city and not to forget Tacloban City as its capital. Presently, Leyte has numerous attractions to offer travelers. One is the San Juanico Bridge that spans the San Juanico Strait. This is hyped to be the most magnificently designed and the longest bridge in the entire country. On top of the bridges, one can see countless whirlpools as well as the picturesque islets of Leyte.
Leyte, just like any other place in the Philippines has an excessive liking for festivals. The most notable in this province is the Pintados Kasadyaan Festival that is celebrated every 29th of June in Tacloban City. Painted or tattooed dancers would perform narrative dances that illustrate their customs, traditions and beliefs.
Buyugan Festival mimics the movements of the buyog (honeybee). This festival that is celebrated every 19th of August in Abuyog, Leyte is judged as one of the top ten festivals in the Philippines due to its highly artistic choreography and lifelike, accurately designed costumes that portrays the appearance of bees.
Tags: Buyugan Festival, Leyte, Pintados Kasadyaan Festival, Waray
Posted in Destinations, Leyte | 
April 13th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
“First mass” at Limasawa?
Magellan did not go to Limasawa or Butuan.
The place where Magellan’s fleet anchored and where an Easter mass was celebrated on March 31, 1521 was not Butuan. Or, Limasawa.
It was in the island-port named Mazaua. Being an island, it was surrounded by sea water.
There is an article at Wikipedia on Mazaua where all the properties of Mazaua–its location, size, kind of port, shape, the name of its king, its flora and fauna, distances from Homonhon to the port, latitude, etc. etc.–are explicitly defined. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazaua.
A fairly comprehensive but not exhaustive historiography of the Mazaua issue is contained in an article published in the website of the Italian nuclear scientist and Italian translator of Dr. Jose Rizal, Dr. Vasco Caini, at http://www.xeniaeditrice.it. When the page opens scroll down to the article Mazaua.
The notion the March 31, 1521 mass was held at Butuan comes from the garbled account by Giovanni Battista Ramusio. It is such a corrupted translation of the original that the account is not Antonio Pigafetta’s at all. In this translation, which Henry Harrisse says is a plagiarism by Ramusio of an anonymously published book that saw print in 1534 (no one has seen this edition) and republished in 1536 (which is extant), Ramusio removed “Mazaua” and replaced it with Butuan.
The Butuan error stayed uncorrected for 266 years from 1534 or 1536 until 1800. The error was detected in a book containing the authentic Pigafetta narration of the Magellan voyage, edited by the ex-Augustinian polymath Carlo Amoretti.
But in correcting the error, Amoretti made a colossal blunder which was only detected in 1996 by the author. Amoretti in two footnotes surmised that Mazaua (his exact names for the island was Massana and Mazzana) MAY be the “Limassava” island in the 1734 map of the Philippines by French mapmaker Jacques N. Bellin. This map was an exact copy of the most famous map ever made in the Philippines by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde, the edition of 1734.
Amoretti, by way of offering proof to support his assertion, states Limasawa and Mazaua are in the latitude given by Pigafett, 9 degrees and 40 minutes North. This is wrong on three points: 1) Limasawa’s latitude is 9 deg. 56 min. N; 2) There is no island at Pigafetta’s latitude; 3) There are two other readings of latitude for Mazaua, 9 degrees North by The Genoese Pilot which is supported by the Portuguese squadron leader, Antonio de Brito, who embargoed all objects found at the flagship Trinidad including a number of logbooks and other papers, and 9 deg. 20 min. North by Francisco Albo, the Greek mariner who piloted the Victoria back to Spain on Sept. 6, 1522.
The notion Combes’ Limasawa was Magellan’s Mazaua where the “first mass” was held is a false notion. Combes nowhere says his Limasawa is the port where the fleet moored on March 28-April 3, 1521. Nowhere does Combes say there was any mass held in his Limasawa or anywhere in the Philippines for that matter on March 31, 1521. To verify this, go to the English translation of the 3-paragraph story by Combes of Magellan’s sojourn in Philippine waters. Click http://books.google.com/books?id=NbG7kHtBma8C&pg=PA1&dq=First+mass+in+Limasawa&ei=6w27SZi7IoLKlQS8neDVAg#PPA4,M1. The original Spanish text may be accessed at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=philamer;cc=philamer;q1=Limasaua;rgn=full%20text;idno=ahz9273.0001.001;didno=ahz9273.0001.001;view=image;seq=00000134
Where then is Magellan’s port today? The answer may be found at the ff. Wikipedia articles:
1. First mass in the Philippines –http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_mass_in_the_Philippines
2. Carlo Amoretti — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Amoretti
3. Gines de Mafra — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gines_de_Mafra
4. Mazaua — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazaua
5. Francisco Combes — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Comb%C3%A9s
6. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_de_Herrera_y_Tordesillas
7. Andres de San Martin — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn
8. Ruy Lopez de Villalobos — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruy_Lopez_de_Villalobos
No serious scholar of Magellan historiography today still thinks Limasawa is Mazaua. Only the National Historical Institute and fanatic advocates (not scholars) of Amoretti’s Limasawa hypothesis still think the southern isle is or can be Mazaua.
Ironically, some writers from Butuan think in the same way as NHI itself. For what unexplained reason, it’s not clear.
The only remaining problem is whether the suspect isle of Pinamanculan-Bancasi is really Mazaua. This issue is not historiographical. It is archaeological, i.e., there is need to come up with artefacts directly traceable to Magellan, Gines de Mafra, and a number of other recorded visits by Europeans in the 16th century.
These artefacts cannot be produced by further historiographical conversation. It is only by digging that concrete evidence may be found.
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