The story of our mother

Hello folks! I have just awakened and, I am still on the grumpy side. My daily coffee fix is not yet taking effect and well, I missed a day of writing in our community!

Anyway, last week- exactly seven days ago, my mom and I went in a trip in one of the Marian pilgrimages in the northern Philippines. The Basilica Minore of Piat- home to the image of Our Lady of Piat.

Today, I just wanted the glass stain pictures that I took surrounding the Basilica Minore depicting her story speak for themselves. Unlike the "usual" stained glass that adorns most of our churches and shrines, her shrine is unique as it depicts her amazing journey.

The window stain is located above the "windows" and, I just took the pictures with my mobile phone. I never really planned to make a post about her but, I changed my mind when I was already at the shrine.

(the windows look something like this. It's very airy inside and the natural light outside adds color through the stained glass)

So, let's start:

Arrival from Macau to Lal-lo- another town in Cagayan.

Due to its darker complexion the Dominicans believe, it would help convert the warring Itawes tribes. It was brought expressly for that purpose and was brought in their homeland covering the towns of Malaweg, Tuao and Piat.

Today, the sambali festival is celebrated every July 1 and 2. Sambali came from the Malaweg word "sambales" which means war. There is always a dance depicting the war between Christians and the local tribe which ends with the christians being victorious. It also symbolizes the triumph of the church in unifying and converting the tribes in the Catholic faith.

Various miracles and intercessions were attributed to the miraculous image as depicted.

Today, she is known amongst her children as "Yena tam Ngamin" or mother of us all. I had been going on pilgrimage trips on this site just as the rest of my people are even in ordinary times. Yes. For some of you, its just a waste of resources. For us, we cannot really find any concrete explanation apart from this: its faith. its our belief. Its our culture. Its our identity.

copyright of ourladyofpiat.blogspot.com