In Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, in Barangay Bibiclat, hundreds
of devotees of the village's patron saint, John the
Baptist, transform themselves into "mud people" --
literally "taong putik." The locals call the
ritual
Pagsa-San Juan.
Outsiders call it the Taong Putik Festival, an
event -- an experience -- that has recently caught
the attention and interest of the tourism sector.
These devotees
wake-up early in the morning and wear dried banana and
other leaves and cover themselves in mud. Then they walk
the streets of Bibiclat, going
from houses to houses to ask for candles or money to buy
candles. Then at
6 in the morning,
they converge in the Church Plaza to offer the candles
to Saint John the Baptist and attend the mass.
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