Abstract
Held annually beginning the 6th of January, the kuraldal, an impassioned ritualistic dance usually associated with fertility, is performed by the Catholic community in Sasmuan in Pampanga, Philippines. Participants are usually childless couples whose participation is an act of panata (religious pledge and sacrifice). Apung Lucia (Saint Lucy), the patroness of the town, is believed to be the ‘divine authority’ who answers the devotees’ intentions especially in relation to child bearing. This paper asserts that this Catholic community continuously constructs narratives about Apung Lucia based on several scripts of interpretations: negotiations between the orthodox doctrine(s) and the non-orthodox narratives. These negotiations are woven together providing the performative text(s) of the kuraldal and then undergo traditionalization. It is argued that the performance is a continuous traditionalization as well as a celebration of the ongoing imagined image(s) of Apung Lucia, which are not necessarily derivatives of the Catholic Church narratives.
