the mysteries behind "The Summer Solstice" by Nick Joaquin

(source:St. John the Baptist.Web.2 July 2009.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist].)
St. John the Baptist

John the Baptist (died c 30) was a mission preacher and a major religious figure who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River in expectation of a divine apocalypse that would restore occupied Israel. John followed the example of previous Hebrew prophets, living austerely, challenging sinful rulers, calling for repentance, and promising God's justice.

Some scholars maintain that he was influenced by the Essenes, who were semi-ascetic, expected an apocalypse, and had rituals similar to baptism, although there is no direct evidence to substantiate this. John's baptism was a purification rite for repentant sinners, performed in "living water" (in this case a running river) in accord with Jewish custom. John anticipated a messianic figure who would be greater than himself. Jesus was among those whom John baptized. It has been suggested that Jesus may have been a follower of John. Herod Antipas saw John as a threat and had him executed. The ministry of Jesus followed John's, and some of Jesus' early followers had previously been followers of John. John, like Jesus, preached at a time of political, social, and religious conflict.

Accounts of John in the New Testament are not incompatible with the account in Josephus, whose authority is respected. Here, Jesus is the one whose coming John foretold. Herod has John imprisoned for denouncing his marriage, and he is later executed. Christians commonly refer to John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, since in the Gospels, John announces Jesus' coming. He is also identified with the prophet Elijah, and is described as a relative of Jesus.

Because Scripture described John as endowed with prenatal grace, the feast day of his birth (June 24) became celebrated more solemnly than that marking his martyrdom (August 29). John is regarded as a prophet in Islam, as well as in the Bahá'í Faith. and Mandaeism. In art, John's head often appears on a platter because that is what Herod's stepdaughter, Salome, is said to have asked for. A theme of Christian art is the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. He is also depicted as an ascetic wearing camel hair and with a staff and scroll inscribed "Ecce Agnus Dei", or bearing a book or dish with a lamb on it. In Orthodox icons, he often has angel's wings, since Mark 1:2 describes him as ἄγγελος (angelos) (messenger).

Imprisonment and beheading

The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist (Caravaggio)
(source:St. John the Baptist.Web.2 July 2009.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist].)


The presumed 'Head of St John', enshrined in Rome
(source:St. John the Baptist.Web.2 July 2009.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist].)
According to the canonical Gospels, John the Baptist's public ministry was brought to a close when he was imprisoned on orders of Herod Antipas. The synoptic Gospels state that Herod Antipas reacted to John's condemnation of his marriage to Herodias, the former wife of his half-brother Herod II. Josephus locates John's imprisonment in the fortress of Machaerus on the southern extremity of Peraea, nine miles (14 km) east of the Dead Sea (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities XVIII:5:1–2). Matthew relates that the imprisoned John sent messengers to Jesus to ask him whether he was the Messiah. Jesus indirectly answered in the affirmative and described John in terms of a return of the prophet Elijah (Matthew 11:2-15).


Said to be the Head of John the Baptist, in reliquarium, Residenz, Munich
(source:St. John the Baptist.Web.2 July 2009.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist].)


This is the tomb which lies beneath a monastic Church in a Coptic Christian Monastery in Lower Egypt. The bones of St. John the Baptist were said to have been found here.
(source:St. John the Baptist.Web.2 July 2009.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist].)
Regarding John's death, Josephus states that Herod had John killed to preempt a possible uprising. Matthew links John's death as well with Herodias, as he related that her daughter Salome so much delighted Antipas with a dance that he vowed to grant her any wish to which, after asking her mother (Herodias), she demanded the head of John the Baptist. (Matthew 14:6-8) The Gospels date John's death before the crucifixion of Jesus. Josephus places John's death no later than 36 CE. Neither Josephus nor the Gospels state where John was buried, though the Gospels state that John's disciples took his body and placed it in a tomb and then told Jesus all that had occurred, to which Jesus replied that there had been no greater son of woman than John the Baptist (Matthew 14:3-12). In the time of Julian the Apostate, however, his tomb was shown at Samaria, where the inhabitants opened it and burned part of his bones. The rest of the alleged remains were saved by some Christians, who carried them to an abbot of Jerusalem named Philip.

Festivity

In many Mediterranean countries the summer solstice is dedicated to St. John. The associated ritual is very similar to midsummer celebrations on the Anglo-saxon world inspired in the Celtic festivity of Samhain.(source:St. John the Baptist.Web.2 July 2009.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist].)

(source:Noel Vera.The Historical Battle Of The Sexes.Web.2 July 2009.[http://www.bigozine2.com/movies06/NVtatarin.html].)
Tatarin
It explores the pagan forces in the Christian community, and the superiority of women to imperious men. It portrays and contrasts the men and women who simultaneously celebrate the recently-introduced feast of St. John the Baptist and the ceremonial acts of the tatarin, a pagan ritual to the moon led by female priestesses.(source:Tatarin.Web.2 July 2009.[http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Tatarin].)

The tatarin ritual is an affront to that patriarchal state which the Philippines has inherited from its Western colonizers. Guido (Carlos Morales), Paeng's cousin who relocates from Europe to take part in the pagan rituals, relates that women have always been powerful; that before there were kings, there were queens; that before there were priests, there were pagan priestesses; and that the sun bows down to the moon (which symbolizes femininity). You see Lupe's surprise of her undiscovered power upon hearing those words and while her legs are fondled by the very masculine Guido while her husband peeks through their balcony.(source:Francis Cruz.Lessons From the School of Inattention:Oggs' Movie Thoughts.26 June 2007.Web.3 July 2009.[http://oggsmoggs.blogspot.com/2007/06/tatarin-2001_26.html].)

It presented the ancient pagan dance ritual that is "Tatarin," a celebration which coincides with the feast of St. John the Baptist.

"Tatarin" uses the backdrop of the American occupation, the period where the picturesque "Tatarin" ritual awakens the goddesses in the quiet, passive spirits of a mistress of a mansion, Lupe and her maid Amada. Drawn to worship of a centuries-old Balete tree, Lupe and Amada are caught in a trance that liberates them from all their inhibitions.

"Through ceaseless chanting, Lupe and Amada empower the weakest of their sensibilities," Tikoy(director of tatarin:movie) explains. "And by some form of erotic pagan dance, they rouse to frenzy the most savage of their desires that from long ago, had been shackled to frigidity by men who dominate their world."(source:Filmmaker Tikoy Aguiluz directs Nick Joaquin classic.24 November 2001.Web.3 July 2009.[http://www.emanila.com/pilipino/various/ggr_tatarin_aguiluz.htm].)