Anything Under the Sun
Cross and crown of Arevalo
On this last week of May, once again Barangay Santa Cruz of Arevalo, Iloilo City will celebrate the Santacruzan--the first such celebration in West Visayas started more than a hundred years ago.
How did it start?
The story says that one day during the Spanish time, a farmer was plowing his field in Arevalo, Iloilo. Suddenly, his plow hit a hard object. He examined it and found it to be a 12-foot long black cross. Nearby, he also found a coronet.
The cross was believed to be the one placed by the Jesuits inside their chapel in that place which they earlier abandoned because of the Muslim raids. That cross is now enshrined in the chapel of Barangay Santa Cruz where the famous Santa Cruz de Mayo was soon started.
The santacruzan is the commemoration of the finding of the Cross by St. Helena in Jerusalem. It is capped by a colorful procession where the participants representing St. Helena (Santa Elena) and her son (as a small boy), Emperor Constantine the Great of Rome. The supporting casts are personifications like the Siete Virtudes de Maria by seven girls.
On the other hand, the coronet was believed to belong to one of the images of the Jesuits in their chapel. It was enlarged by Capitan Domingo de Guzman into a bigger crown which is now at the top of the tall stone pillar towering over the plaza of Arevalo.