"Have a Halloween that doesn't suck!"

29-31 October Edition.

Our weekend wish for all:  "Have a Halloween that doesn't suck!"

In America, halloween costumes may have all been gone from the rental shops these past couple of weeks. But we've seen how creative some souls can be, and in Salem, MA, one can already see a couple or two trying on their costumes and make-up in early October when the month-long Haunted Happenings begin.

We've purposely visited with our family there in early fall for some years and braved the biting cold to enjoy the main event of the Happenings on Halloween night at the downtown mall area. 

We've seen a variety of get-ups, some scary enough in the dark, some very creatively outrageous, and a lot usually derived from favorite cartoon, horror (hello, Freddie Krueger and Frankenstein), and sci-fi (this year, we may see a lot of Avatar denizens) movie characters.  We may see Harry Potter's enemy come alive; he's been seen in the preview clips of the first of the two final sequels that will be shown in December.  We think Obi Wan and Darth Vader will not be resurrected from the storage cabinet.

We had our first American Halloween party about 30 years ago in Daisy, TN when we trained at the Sequoyah nuclear power plant.  The rental shop ran out of costumes for three Pinoy souls, so we made our face up as an aswang or bloodsucker.

This year there would be a lot of zombies around the USA just like those who walked on major streets in key cities around the world a few days ago as part of a promotional gimmick for the "Walking Dead" sequel or movie. We guess some of them will look like Michael Jackson the zombie in his "Thriller" video many years ago.

Red Eye, Chicago, Il (29 October).

One prediction is that there would be plenty of Lady Gagas - real women and cross-dressers - just like the Madonnas and Marilyn Monroes we've come across in the Happenings before.

We don't see any reason to connect Halloween Night in Salem, MA aka 'The Witch City' with the 1692 witch trials.  There's a lot of hype on witches and witchcraft there, which really sells better than the cultural and historical treasures that abound all around.  There can be a balance though. One can take the Witch House and the Witch Museum for the fun side, and a walking tour of the McIntire District and the museums to savor the historical maritime and cultural heritage of the city.

The best way to enjoy this Salem night is to go early since traffic going there could come to a stand-still and parking could be difficult.  Without any stress at all, one can enjoy musing if they are really witches when they come down in parade, their faces aglow with the light of their burning candles.

For a history of the Haunted Happenings, this is a good read:  Forman, Ethan. (2010, October 25). How Haunted Happenings Bewitched the City of Salem.  Salem News Online at http://www.salemnews.com/local/x356200542/How-Haunted-Happenings-bewitched-the-city-of-Salem

29 October Issue

It's gonna be creepy but happy! It's how you'll make it so ...

Will Brazil elect Dilma Rousseff its president on halloween day?

Dilma, 57%; Serra, 43% (29 October). 

28 October.

Brazilians will go to the polls tomorrow, Sunday, to elect their next president who will assume office on January 1, 2011.  That's Halloween day for America and Europe or in countries like the Philippines where commerce has grafted an imported cultural practice alien to their All Soul's religious folk traditions.

Halloween may not be a big thing in Brazil like the year-long fascination with football especially now that they prepare for Copa 2016, and the frenzied celebrations of the annual Carnival in Rio and the Cirio in Belem.

Dilma, 49%, Serra, 38% (26 October).

20 October.

They take their party-ideology driven politics seriously.  The president of the country must have more than 50% of the popular votes cast, otherwise, they go through run-off elections for a candidate to achieve that majority.  President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva's full backing had Dilma Rousseff top the scoring among three candidates in the 03 October elections, but she failed to get the desired majority.

The run-off has her against the centrist candidate Jose Serra. She has maintained a significant lead throughout the campaign period as reflected by the several surveys done.  We love the way the front pages of Brazilian papers, spread out in this story, has been presenting the Dilma-Serra survey scores. 

If we go by those results, Dilma Rousseff has won the presidency and the polls tomorrow would just be the official validation of the informal selection.

In the debate, Dilma scored 48% and Serra 41%.

We thought that the Roman Catholic Church would keep its distance from this political affair. It's been reported that the bishops signed and circulated a letter urging voters to keep off Rousseff, who is fully backed by President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.

The Federal District judge barred the airing of a priest's sermon campaigning against Rousseff, a clear separation of religious and civilian functions.

It looks like the Vatican itself has asked the bishops to be vigilant on the issue of decriminalizing abortion, illegal except in the cases of rape or when a woman's life is at risk, which was hotly debated on by the two presidential contenders.

We will see how the bishops could sway voters away from Dilma.

Wondering if the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines are monitoring this political event in far away Brazil.

29 October.

 

'Fire and Water, Tears and Fear' in Indonesia

Star, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (28 October).

Mass burial for Merapi victims (Star, 29 October).

Whenever we go to Indonesia for a business purpose in Jakarta or business-cum-leisure agenda in Bali, we always wonder how this big country is so rich in energy resources that did not get to spread much to the Philippine archipelago.

We've been to the Kalimantan island and have seen the spread of virgin forest from the resting on top of this big reservoir of coal--often referred to as black diamond--enough to fuel the power needs of the world for some 300 years.  Through the rivers there, we've visited coal mines. They have young coal (lignite, juicy because of high moisture) and old coal (anthracite, hard and almost dry), and those in between (bituminous or sub-, the steaming coal so widely pursued by power generators of the world).

Indonesia is an OPEC entity; it was the favorite of oil refineries for their sweet crude, although we heard that the reserve is almost depleted.

There's so much energy down at the bowels of the earth there, which probably explains why the volcanoes are active in that country.  We know from history of Krakatoa, east of Java; recently, in late August, Gunung Sinabung in the island of Sumatra erupted.  Mount Merapi, considered one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes of the world, has always been rumbling and frequently erupting, the latest in 2006.  We can see why Indonesia is in the so-called Pacific Ring of "ring of fire."

The Nation, Thailand (28 October).

Countries with active volcanoes like the Philippines have their volcanologists on their toes whenever there are indications of possible eruptions. With this predictiveness of volcanic activity, people can always be alerted to evacuate potential danger areas.

De Verdieping Trouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands (28 October).

Mount Merapi in Yogyakarta in Central Java erupted on Tuesday, 26 October claiming the lives of 34 people. The post-eruption landscape is already familiar to Filipinos: a deep cover of volcanic ash all around. We did not hear of lahar flooding though similar to what happened in several towns in Pampanga province after the Pinatubo eruption. Merapi has been grumbling this past week, and early this morning (Saturday, 30 October), it gave its strongest blow so far.

That brought double grief to Indonesia after the 10-foot high tsunami waves washed away the villages at Mentawai Island, off Sumatra caused by a 7.7-magnitude quake that struck late Monday, 25 October, beneath the Indian Ocean.

The latest death toll at Mentawai has rose to more than 400, and around 300 more are still missing.  The dim picture was brightened up a bit with the miraculous survival of a 2-month-old baby who was discovered in a storm drain.

These twin catastrophes are severely testing Indonesia's emergency response network. There's been a call for medical assistance in Mentawai.  We've heard that the Philippine President has offered help to the Indonesian President in Vietnam where the ASEAN heads of states are having a leaders' summit.

Postscript.  This issue of the Manila Bulletin of October 28 gives details of the world's infamous tsunamis.  The highest tsunami wave is 1,720 feet high in Alaska in 1958 (20 died, 7.9 magnitude).  The deadliest (50-ft high waves, 9.0 magnitude) occurred at the Indian Ocean in December 2004 with 230,000 dead/missing.

Manila Bulletin, Philippines (29 October).

The website Volcano Live-John Seach is the best place to check for volcanic activities around the world.  There's a  Merapi Volcano page for a history of its eruptions.


References:

1.    Gelineau, Kristen. (2010, October 30). Death Toll of Mentawai Tsunami Tops 400.  The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from  http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/10/29/death-toll-mentawai-tsunami-tops-400.html 

2.    Seach, John. (2010). Merapi Volcano - John Seach. Retrieved from ttp://www.volcanolive.com/merapi.html

Howl'oween Dog Day USA

Northeast Pennsylvania

In the Philippines, the living myth is that when the neighborhood or street dog (Canis lupus familiaris) howls lugubriously at any time of day, there is somebody long-departed a-visiting from the Great Beyond. Dogs are believed to have the ability to see (or smell, hence the K-9's) what their human masters can not unless they have the third eye (and this reminds us of our help who told us once that some friendly elves abide in our bedroom, and so in deference, we moved to another one).

Mobile, Alabama

 Vampire lore has the other Canis lupus (gray wolf), a wild dog it really is, assuming otherworldly nature--it can morph into human form, the were-wolf, which has become a good subject for cinematic translation whether in the romantic or horror film genre.

We think that the USA dogs had a day all to themselves last Sunday (24 October).  They didn't have rivals for human attention this time unlike when they are brought to church on St Francis's feast day and, in proper decorum, hobnob with non-canine members of kingdom animalia, cats, birds, even reptiles.

Opelika-Auburn, Alabama

It's worldwide, this dog craziness.  Even the chic, westernized, young noveau riche Chinese have began walking pet dogs in a Shanghai or Beijing park; it used to be that they shunned keeping pet dogs because of some negative zodiac implications.

This Dog Sunday appeared to be a halloween treat to man's favorite pet--a howl'oween event for barking and yelping beause of probably some great discomfort due to their human disguise.  The canines that had probably more fun were those that performed agility tests as themselves--without 'human' adornments--in Oregon.

Because of the so-called globalization, we can almost see this howl'oween becoming another end-October event for dog lovers around the world in the same way that dog fashion shows have become an add-on to the traditional dog show of skills and healthiness.

Oregon.

Trick-or-treat and halloween used to be alien in the Philippine cultural scene. There was nangangaluluwa on undas (serenading for food on All Soul Day evening), and costumes were only worn for those who go to masquerade balls in country villages. But now we see Halloween Americana on sale at this time, and parents shopping for costumes for their kids who'd be going around tricking-or-treating on the eve of undas.

Do we see our askals (street dogs) being attired for Howl'oweens in the Philippines pretty soon?

Morgantown, West Virginia

Interesting Dongguan Times Covers: Translation Needed

Dongguan Times, published in Guangzhou, China, often comes out with very visually appealing front covers. And with the large headlines, we suspect some very interesting stories are being told inside.  It's just unfortunate we can't read Chinese.  Are the characters Mandarin?

The August cover has Valentine's Day appeal: a date with a lady in red high-heeled shoes.  She could be a vamp though, a mob mole or a KGB spy agent out to kill James Bond.

The September cover suggests stamping out dirty money?

The two October covers touch different emotional chords.  The sleeping baby brings to mind the Chinese government's One-Child policy, and also many infants like him/her waiting to be adopted by childless couples around the world.  The man with the tattered flag against a golden brown background recalls the cinematic touch of Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige in their classic tales set in old China, or may be the drunken master martial arts movies of Jackie Chan.

A kind soul may be out there to feed us back with translations.

August 29 Issue.

September 15 Issue.

October 16 Issue.

October 21 Issue.

Life after Megi (a.k.a. Juan in the Philippines)

Latest casualty count: 15

Juan pummeled northern Luzon about lunchtime last Monday, and our countrymen up there were prepared for the worst since forecast was signal no. 4 before it hit--securing their roofs, seeking refuge in public buildings like schools and gymnasiums, saving rice crops already ripe for the harvest, etc.  Airlines canceled flights; ferry services stayed moored and passengers got stranded for safety's sake.  Up there, classes were, of course, suspended but not in Metro Manila where students in all levels trooped to their schools in the morning only to be told to go home in the early afternoon (DepEd as usual got a lot of flak; they're now in Twitter for announcements!).

Hard-hit towns of Isabela: Maconacon, Palanan & Divilacan.

We got to know that the NDCC (National Disaster Coordinating Council) has morphed to the NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council); PNoy skipped its preparedness meeting since he had already been briefed by the member agencies of their individual plans , and the presidential communications group explained, he had other priority agenda to attend to.  On Sunday, we saw the emergency facilities spread out on the parade grounds of Camp Aguinaldo all ready for deployment.

We hope it's not the ratings war that propels the TV networks to deploy their own support trucks crammed with bags of rice, noodles and tin goods to last a couple days plus clothes at the height of the Megi/Juan assault ("kasagsagan ng bagyo" is the more emotive expression for it).  We got to hear up-to-the-second 'super' rains and winds hitting the northern Luzon citizenry; there was no brown-out in our area in MManila so the TV was on all the time.

It wasn't Zero Casualty as PNoy (and the country) hoped for.  There was no Typhoon PNoy to sweep away PAGASA heads after Megi/Juan has moved out of the Philippine 'area of responsibility' for incorrect forecasting. GMA7's tweeters gave the meteorological agency high praises for better forecast this time around (and the Pagasa updaters including an undersecretary talked street language except that they and the listeners still grappled with the long translation of northnorthwest--'hilaga at hilagang kanluran'.

We liked the Manila Bulletin's front page visual treatments of Megi/Juan's assault: the 19 October cover neatly boxed up the country's super typhoon history; the 20 October issue summed up in picture and boxed numbers the damage to life and property; and today's issue introduced us to two Isabela towns--Maconacon and Divilacan--unknown to most Pinoys until they stood on the way of Super Juan.

Other Asian newspapers front-paged flooding in China and Thailand. But we think these were due to other weather disturbances not directly attributable to this super typhoon.

This one does not need NDRRMC attention.

The Macau Daily Times pictorial report about Megi in the Philippines was a toppled Shell gas station roofing somewhere in Luzon.

We suppose Megi/Juan did not stop Manny Pacquiao training for his pound-for-pound encounter with the much taller Margarito in Texas next month. Everybody is wondering if he gets paid by Filipino taxpayers as Sarangani congressman even he spends all his time in the gym.

Nobody has won the P237-million jackpot of the Super Lotto yet (it's now P251-M). Despite Juan, the lines of fortune-seekers were very long.

Our informer from our dear hometown San Narciso in Zambales reported that there was flooding in barangay Alusiis, which is near the big Sto Tomas river, and we retorted, isn't that expected since the lahar deposits had raised the river bed above the town already?  It was not in the magnitude of the flooding in 2007 though when the dikes broke, and several barangays got submerged.

Menos Peso, Mais Sexo (Less Weight, More Sex)!

No Philippine daily newspaper would ever have a front page cover like this, more so on a Sunday edition :

Sunday Front Page!

The picture alone would send the Padre Damasos of the religious sector as well as the prim and proper members of Pinoy society to the barricades to protest abuse of free expression. The paper would be "excommunicated", and reflective of  Catholic Church's Age of Inquisition, doomed to the list of forbidden reading materials.

And the couple are named--Amaro Pena Jr and Adriana Guedes; the story did not say whether they're married. No Pinoys would dare be photographed on bed and their sex life be a front page main feature. Bad examples to prurient souls!

The folks of a slum village that bragged of their fertility--one had eleven children!--to a comic duo last night on a TV5 semi-documentary show, of course, wouldn't care. They're already practising "menos peso, mais sexo" since they do not have (and their poverty would not create) obesity problems.

"Menos peso, mais sexo" is Portuguese (they speak that in Brazil) for "less weight, more sex", but the words are in the Pinoy's vocabulary.  The naughty translation in Pinoyspeak that comes to mind right away is "less pesos, easy sex" since "minamais"connotes that one can do a task easily.

The story is based on a doctoral thesis in public health presented to the Aggeu Magalhães Research Center in Pernambuco (Recife, about 1,900 kms northeast of Rio de Janeiro, is a major city of this  state of Brazil).  

The study included 43 men who went through a bariatric surgery called Fobi-Capella (may be similar to liposuction?) to solve their sexual problems due to obesity.  "Being overweight," the caption says, "disrupts the sex lives of those who can't come to grips with the weighing scale. There's lack of confidence, malaise, fatigue, rapid heart beats, difficulty in having and maintaining erection, and even in varying sexual positions with partners."

According to the study, these ex-gordos (ex-fat guys) had reasons to celebrate after surgery; the statistics show it: 

• Before surgery, 9.3% had severe erectile dysfunction; 67.5% functioned normally.  After surgery, the proportion of men with severe dysfunction fell to 2.3% and those who functioned normally rose to 81.5%;
• 100% noted improvements in their sex life;
• 97.6% claimed benefits relative to their sexual function especially regarding satisfaction and orgasm.

Amado Jr, 31 years old, went through the procedure. Although he was not included in the study, his pre- and post-surgery sexual experiences were used in the story.  He said he was terrible ashamed of being fat, and his penis became small because of the fat. His belly also got in the way; there was minimal penetration, and they could only do one or two positions.  He now says, his penis is back to normal; and they do have sex almost everyday with varying positions, where before, once a month was good enough.

"Forty combinations of sexual activity" is a key phrase found in another study.  This time it's about the sexual and sexual-health behaviors of U.S. adults conducted by researchers from the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University’s School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation for almost twenty years.  The study covered, among others, the experiences and condom-use behaviors of 5,865 adolescents and adults ages 14 to 94.  

The Star-Ledger of New Jersey carried it in its front page on 05 October issue as shown below.

Study funded by Church & Dwight Co. Inc., maker of Trojan® brand sexual health products.

Among the key findings of the study are the following:

• "There is enormous variability in the sexual repertoires of U.S. adults, with more than 40 combinations of sexual activity described at adults’ most recent sexual event.
• "Many older adults continue to have active pleasurable sex lives, reporting a range of different behaviors and partner types, however adults over the age of 40 have the lowest rates of condom use. Although these individuals may not be as concerned about pregnancy, this suggests the need to enhance education efforts for older individuals regarding STI risks and prevention.
• "About 85% of men report that their partner had an orgasm at the most recent sexual event; this compares to the 64% of women who report having had an orgasm at their most recent sexual event. (A difference that is too large to be accounted for by some of the men having had male partners at their most recent event.)
• "Men are more likely to orgasm when sex includes vaginal intercourse; women are more likely to orgasm when they engage in a variety of sex acts and when oral sex or vaginal intercourse is included.
• "While about 7% of adult women and 8% of men identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, the proportion of individuals in the U.S. who have had same-gender sexual interactions at some point in their lives is higher.
• "At any given point in time, most U.S. adolescents are not engaging in partnered sexual behavior. While 40% of 17 year-old males reported vaginal intercourse in the past year, only 27% reported the same in the past 90 days.
• "Adults using a condom for intercourse were just as likely to rate the sexual extent positively in terms of arousal, pleasure and orgasm than when having intercourse without one."

 The last one about condom use would probably register a warning beep in the radar of  the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and their apostles. Condom use is part of the reproductive health options for Pinoy adult males, and these moral crusaders have never given it a positive view.

 

For a comprehensive look at the contemporary Americans’ sexual behaviors including "a description of more than 40 combinations of sexual acts that people perform during sexual events, patterns of condom use by adolescents and adults, and the percentage of Americans participating in same-sex encounters", the website to go to for a download of the "National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior(NSSHB)" is   http://www.nationalsexstudy.indiana.edu/  of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion.

By the way, Church & Dwight Co. Inc., maker of Trojan® brand sexual health products (condoms included) funded this study.


Holy Cow! Let's look at the 40 sexual combinations. Mabuhay ang Reproductive Health Bill!

Blessed Mary MacKillop canonized first Australian saint today!

TODAY, 17 October 2010, the Roman Catholic Church will add Sister Mary Helen MacKillop to its roster of saints with her canonization in the Holy See in Rome.

Mary will be the first Australian Catholic to become saint 50 years after the first miracle that has been attributed to her.

She was beatified in 1995 when the Vatican accepted Veronica Hopson's complete recovery from acute myeloblastic leukemia in 1961 as a miracle.

Veronica, a Catholic woman, got married in a Methodist church.  The marriage was confirmed by the Catholic church on the day she was sent home to die in November 1961.  That marriage bore six children. She will turn 73 next week

Mary was the oldest of eight children born to Scottish Catholic immigrants Flora MacDonald and Alexander MacKillop.  She was born in Melbourne on January 15, 1842 in Melbourne.

The MacKillop children were educated at home by their father.

The thread of her story as a breadwinner for their needy family--her father's business ventures hardly prospered--to her becoming the first sister and Mother Superior of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 1867 was her deep concern for the education of poor children in Penola, South Austalia.

In September 1871, she was excommunicated by the Catholic Bishop Laurence Sheil "over a constitutional dispute involving the Sisters of St Joseph".  She traveled to Rome in 1873 and stayed there for two years to seek approval of her constitution.

Mary left behind many letters and diary entries that were used by the Roman Catholic Church to study her worthiness to become the first Australian saint.


Sources:

1.   For appreciation of her saintly life, go to the webpage on Blessed Mary MacKillop at  http://www.marymackillop.org.au/index.cfm.
2.  Hoctor, Michelle. (2010, October 13).  "Mary MacKillop's struggle as told in her own hand."  Illawara Mercury.  Retrieved from http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/news/local/news/general/mary-mackillops-struggle-as-told-in-her-own-hand/1966887.aspx

3.  Howden, Saffron. (2010, October 16). "Mary's first miracle."  Newcastle Herald.  Retrieved from http://www.theherald.com.au/news/national/national/general/marys-first-miracle/1970523.aspx

El gran rescate (the grand rescue) of the trapped miners a success!

As we write this (2342H Manila time, 13 October, Wednesday), 16 of the 33 trapped miners have been brought back to the surface from their refuge 700 meters below the earth.

The escape capsule called Phoenix first went down at 23:36PM (Chile, 12 October) and came up with the first survivor at 00:12AM (Chile, 13 October), the stoutest of them, Florencio Avalos.  The second, Mario Sepulveda had a bagful of rocks to distribute to the rescuers as souvenirs, and he went around to cheer the welcoming crowd.  Carlos Mamani, a Bolivian and the only foreigner among the miners, was the fourth.

On hand to welcome them back together with tearful yet joyful families was President Sebastian Pinera himself.

Luis Urzua, the leader of the 33 miners, will be the last to go up; he was quoted as saying the captain is the last to abandon ship.

11October top story on the last 3 to be raised.

 For an appreciation of how the grand rescue was mounted using a new technology, El Mercurio printed out graphic illustrations of the entire story in two-page features below, topmost on 13 October and the bottom on 10 October. These are easy to follow (and understand) even if one does not know Spanish.

13 October spreads.

10 October spreads.

Cirio de Nazare: Brazil's Veneration of Our Lady

It happens in Belem, Brazil every second Sunday of October.  This is the Cirio de Nazare (Candle of Nazareth) which began 200 years ago, one of the largest and most popular Marian festival of the world, when the small image of Our Lady of Nazareth (Nazare) that dates back to early Christian times, is borne in procession through the streets of the city from the Belem Cathedral to the Nazare Basilica where it will reside for the next 15 days.

The Cirio like the Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro is attended by millions of people.  The count this year was 2.2 million religious devotees who participated in the procession.  The Rio is a hedonistic festival held before Lent each year.

 

The size of the image reminds Filipino Marian devotees of Our Lady of Penafrancia of Naga City whose 300th anniversary was commemorated in September this year, and Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Buen Viaje of Antipolo City, who is feasted annually in May.

The Cirio coincides with the observance of the La Naval de Manila when the image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary is honored with a grand procession from the Dominican church of Santo Domingo, a tradition that moved with the church from Intramuros, the Old Manila, to Quezon City.

Source:  http://www.orm.com.br

The passion of the devotees in the Cirio recalls that of the barefoot menfolk in the procession of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo in January, and of the Senor Intierros of Lukban, Quezon and Paite, Laguna on Good Friday.  "Throughout this parade," according to one report, "participants struggle to grab hold of the rope attached to a stand (or berlinda) carrying an image of the virgin. With emotions heightened and a religious fervour in the air, expect to see outbreaks of traditional music and dancing at every step, as delicious smells of sugar and spice waft from passing windows."

Source:  http://www.orm.com.br/

Source:  Inside pages, Diario do Para (Belem, 11 Oct 2010).

 Here's the history of the image of Our Lady of Nazareth from Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira:

"The chronicles of the old Portugal report this episode that took place in the year 1182, on the day of the exaltation of the Holy Cross. Dom Fuas Roupinho, a knight and vassal of King Alphonse Henriques, was out hunting on a foggy day. He was pursuing a deer when it came to an unexpected precipice and fell to its death into the sea below.

"The horse, which was in close pursuit, reared on the very edge of the cliff, and it seemed certain that Dom Fuas would follow the deer to his death. Knowing that a little distance to his left was a cave with the statue of the Virgin of Nazareth, Dom Fuas immediately invoked her protection. He was saved, and in thanksgiving he built a small “chapel of memory” (Ermida da Memória) over the cave in her honor.

"According to a document found with it, the little statue of the Virgin had been venerated in Nazareth in the times of early Christianity. When the iconoclast heresy started in Constantinople and the heretics were destroying all the statues, a monk called Ciriaco took it to a monastery in Spain in the proximity of Merida.

"In 714, when the Saracens invaded the Iberian Peninsula, King Rodrigo fled with Friar Germano to the Atlantic coast, bearing the statue with them. They hid the statue in a small cave off the coast of the site that was later to become Nazaré, where it remained until it was found by a shepherd in 1179.

"After Our Lady miraculously saved the life of Dom Fuas, the devotion to Our Lady of Nazareth spread broadly through the country and was the source of countless graces for the people. In 1377 King Fernando ordered a Church to be built near the little chapel, and the statue is venerated there now."

Update:  The Despedida 15 days after the Cirio --

Sources:
1.  Oliveira, Plinio Corrêa de. "Our Lady of Nazareth (Nazaré) – March 6" retrieved from http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j118sdOLNazare_3-06.htm


2.   "Círio de Nazaré 2010". (2010, Oct 04). Retrieved from http://blog.hostelbookers.com/travel/cirio-de-nazare-2010/  

3.    "The Icon of Nazare". Retrieved from http://www.homebusinesslink.com/BVM8.html

Rescue drill reaches trapped Chilean miners!

The scene at 8:30PM, Friday, October 8, before T-130 drilled the final 40 meters of rock that separates the 33 miners from the outside world.

It was a race among Plans A, B, and C of drilling from three places. It was Plan B that reached the miners first, sixty-six days after the San Jose mine collapsed and trapped them about 750 meters below the earth on 05 August.

Inside page, El Mercurio, 09 October, 2010.

 According to the reports, the drillers, the miners' families, and the miners themselves erupted in cheers when the drill broke through the rock.  The jubilation of the miners were heard via radio.

Through all these days, the families and the media have kept the miners in company above them, calling their campsite Esperanza.


"An extraordinary array of international talent had been gathered and new rescue techniques pioneered on the fly to plow through rock without compromising the miners’ safety," the New York Times reported. "Chilean officials brought in advisers from NASA, custom-built steel rescue capsules and even fed the trapped miners meat pies baked in the form of cylinders to be slipped down a narrow hole more than 2,050 feet below the surface."

The escape capsule is already at the other side of the drill tip.  El Mercurio said the rescue operations may start between the evening of Monday and Tuesday; and the New York Times said it will likely be on "Wednesday at the earliest before the miners catch their first glimpse of sunlight and breath of fresh air."

The drillers have been in constant radio contact with the miners especially when the drill tip first appeared to the latter so that "the driller could slow the machinery down, to avoid a sudden breakthrough of the entire drill, which would have put undue strain on the equipment."

The miners themselves will have to blow some places around the escape hole with dynamite to provide wider room for the escape capsules called Phoenix, by which they will be raised one by one.

"The miners will be extracted one at a time, with two capsules alternating voyages," said the New York Times. "Each capsule contains tanks of oxygen-enriched air, a hands-free phone and retractable rollers to protect it as it bounces along the wall." [See illustration from the Hoy of Ecuador, and picture of one of the capsules being tested from El Mercurio, both above.]   

 

"It remains to be decided in what order they will emerge, although officials said Friday that the strongest would likely come out first, partly so they could help guide the rescue effort at the top, advising the emergency crews on conditions below. But officials also want the fittest on the first trips in case the capsule gets stuck and needs to be physically dislodged. 
"Those in poorer health would go next, and then the rest."

The miners would be back with their families very much earlier than the initial estimate.