Religious Culture In The Philippines
Most Filipino homes have an altar or prayer area set up. Since Jessie and I have had to start over from scratch with basic furniture needs, we have not been able to do that. I wish to furnish my home with a Filipino theme. For that reason, I have wanted an altar area. Though Jessie doesn’t follow as many traditions as strictly as most Filipino and organized religion has turned her off, mostly due to their participation in politics, she very much considers herself Catholic. However, she has many protestant views and didn’t realize it.
We bought some items to introduce some of these practices into our home. Jessie bought some rosary beads for me. I’ve wanted to collect crosses so this also accomplishes that goal. Rosary beads here are probably much like those any where in the world. My upbringing is protestant though and I know very little about Catholicism. So I don’t know if they are the same. They can be simple plastic beads or they can be extravagant with diamonds and other precious stones. We also bought two crucifixes in the gift shop within Basilica del Santo Niño or the parish of the boy saint.
Once we left the church we had some fries and a coke at a fast food joint known as Jollibee. Just before we went in someone approached us trying to sell us this rugged looking crucifix. Jessie just shook her head no, but I liked what I saw. He was asking for P150. We went into Jollibee and I told her to offer the guy P75. She offered him P100 via hand signals as he was on the sidewalk. We ended up getting it for for P125.
- The Last Supper Carved From Drift Wood
Once we had it, we realized it was hand carved from drift wood! Soon the man was back with a carving of the Last Super. He wanted P300 for that and after more customary haggling we got it for P250. He then tried to sell us a carving of the twin hearts. I’ve spoken of those several times as I’ve been drawn to that as soon as I saw them about a year ago. I told him no, I had spent too much money. The street vendor then said next time. I said, yes next time.
- Crucifix Hard Carved From Drift Wood
I think I could sell these things on e-bay for a lot of money. I didn’t buy them to sell though, I bought them for our home. I need to keep my mind open to money making ideas so we may buy more and try to sell them. I want to be 100% sure it is drift wood and not some copy cat product.
Before we can display them though, we must get them blessed. Our helper told us that if we took them to Saint Vincent Ferrer Parish Church we will have to pay to get them blessed. I wouldn’t mind that, I’d like to see exactly what it is done but, I spent too much money in Cebu City, so the helper is going to take them to her church on Sunday and get them blessed for nothing. Blessing involves prayer and holy water.
In Bogo City, it seems the priest at the main parish church charges a fee for blessings. At least that’s what we’ve been told by our helper. She said she can get it blessed for free at her church though. We will get that done next Sunday.
There is a museum on the Basilica del Santo Niño compound as well but it was closed on Wednesday. Hopefully we will return there before too long so I can visit the museum.
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Tagged with: Bogo City • Philippine Religion • Philippines
Filed under: Cebuanos and Religion
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Hi Rusty – Unfortunately, I believe that shipping charges would eat you alive if you sell these on eBay and ship them to overseas locations. I agree though, that they are a unique item which would probably have demand.
Well, no. I would always pass on any shipping charges to the buyer with huge warnings about cost and estimates. However that may make it nearly impossible to sale. Not sure. If I could draw attention to it, there may be a market. Would be only one way to find out. Try it. I think I will buy something for sale and see what happens with it. eBay owes me $30.00+ been sitting in my account for over a year now.
I probably shouldn’t publish to the world what I’m paying for it. LOL Oh well too late. I wont sell them for that. I think they will command a high price. If I do get back into Ebay again, it would likely be either for extremely low cost electronic items or high price things. I think I’d rather sell two items a month and make a lot of money on those than sell a lot of little things.
I’m not a big fan of eBay, not a big fan at all and that may keep me from even trying. Paypal pretty much ruined it but wasn’t a surprise to me. I remember when eBay bought Paypal everyone thought Paypal would change, well everyone by me. I thought eBay would change and it did.
I’m surprised Skype has not been ruined yet, it will be, customer service has gone to crap oh that reminds me. I need to check my number. They deactivate it every freaking month. Right after I pay for it again.
Wow, they didn’t disable my number this month!
Hi Rusty – I am a huge eBay fan. I’ve made a good deal of money on eBay over the past 12 years or so. It’s been 3 or 4 years, though, since I was active on eBay. Personally, I have nothing but good feelings about their site.
Things have changed a huge deal in the last three to four years.
For one, all your favorable will be gone now. They are wiping out ratings over a year old now. Well the last set of rules I read said they were going to do that.
Also sellers can no longer give negative feedback.
It is common now for new sellers to have their paypal accounts put on hold when they get their first sale. If the seller is a drop shipper that may mean they don’t have the money to pay their supplier. So they can’t ship and paypal will not release the funds until the seller can prove they have shipped. Since they are tiny new sellers with no money, they end up with their paypal account closed and they find themselves banned from both paypal and ebay.
Just because something works for me or you doesn’t mean they are a good site. I invite you to google “paypal fraud” and “ebay fraud” well with ebay you may get the FBI’s site. The number one fraud on the net, according to the FBI are online auctions with the number one complaint counterfeit goods. You need to read between the lines a little but not much on the FBI site.
I’ve made money on eBay too I’ve also been banned twice. I still have a working account. I did nothing wrong. Once I refused to pay what I had already paid and the second time …. The second time I had a transaction that looked like fraud, they put my account on hold until I shipped. I couldn’t refund the money because my paypal account was frozen until I shipped and I refused to ship and the buyer didn’t mean the terms of the auction. yea, mighty fine company. NOT.
eBay is trying to stop the fraud but they are trying to do it with automated means. You work with eBay and Paypal long enough, I have ZERO doubt they will eventually screw you over. The automated means bust all the wrong people and those selling fake goods have no problems continuing to do so.
Hi Rusty – I am well aware of everything you speak of. I still am a big fan of the site.
Okay, I just can’t recommend a company that operates that way. I might use them but the potential problem I see in this situation is no matter what I put on my ad the user will still give me low marks for shipping and Paypal might just ban me for trying to avoid auction fees. Hard to build something with that kind of fear at the foundation of the business. Most eBay sellers that have been around for a while talk about how it use to be easy to make money on eBay but those days are gone. I really think the counterfeiters are the biggest problem but eBay is the second biggest problem.
Hi Rusty , email me. looking for xpats. I am an xpat from Canada living in Davao
Tony I emailed you but never heard back from you.
Wow, though you’re a protestant by upbringing I’m surprised that you don’t mind the whole icons and images.
I’m glad you see the beauty of it too.
Great purchases you got there
I’ve never understood anti-Catholicism nor antisemitism. Some bigotry, while I don’t agree with it, at least I can understand how it came about. Those two are beyond me.
I have seen much anti-Catholicism myself. I’ve only seen it once that I can recall. A “friend” of mine was livid over a picture of a crucifix. She said something like “My Lord got of that cross and how dare anyone put him back on it.” I just blew it off, still shake my head.
I grew up in the deep south, where racism is more common than uncommon. I’ve been a victim of it. I lived it as a child. Its what I knew. Then I grew up and became able to think for myself. I really despise it.
I wouldn’t worship and object. Sometimes it appears to me that those deep into Catholicism APPEAR to engage in that BUT I was not raised in the culture. If I had been, I suspect I’d have a better understanding. I think the object merely serves as a focal point for Christians, catholic or protestant, makes do difference. Even if someone else worships the objects, it doesn’t mean I do. I can appreciate the objects, I can have them in my home. For me, they are things that remind me of God. And God knows better than most, I need lots of reminding.
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The battles between the protestant and the catholic sadden me. They’re origins are politician, not Godly. I don’t understand how one can kill in the name of love in any religion. Nor do I condone any kind of unfriendliness between the different branches of Christianity.
Somehow, this kind of thing escapes me. I just don’t get it. I do get that we are far too judgmental of others, especially those that don’t agree with us.