In the Philippines, the practice of having a new house blessed by a priest or a pastor is considered extremely important. A kind of ritual which is very respected by the people, a highly demanded service that many house owners look for. Because in Philippines customs run really deep. In fact, the tradition also includes other important aspects of one’s life, like having a new job or owning a new car.
With majority of the population in the Philippines practicing the Roman Catholic faith, it is usually a parish priest or a pastor who officiates the whole house blessing ceremony. The house blessing itself is fairly short, but the process of having a priest officiating the house blessing may take a few days or weeks, depending on how many house owners would want to have their homes blessed for that particular particular period of time.
The whole process would be as follows. Note-taking would be a good idea for you, interested people!
1. AGREE ON THE DATE
The first thing you need to do is to visit your local parish church to ask for information on how to get the services of a priest in order to officiate the house blessing. Different parishes have different rules and requirements needed for the services you wish. The local parish will also have to talk with the officiating priest. This way, it will be possible to determine if he is available for the schedule that you want for the house blessing. It is important to visit the local parish church a week before the scheduled house blessing date.
2. PREPARING FOR THE DAY
Once the local parish and the priest have confirmed that the scheduled date is fine for the ritual, you should start preparing for the house blessing itself. There are some ingredientes that are irreplaceable for this event:
- Holy water: This is water that was previously blessed by a priest or minister through prayer. Traditionally, priests would carry their own vial of holy water for the blessing, but nowadays, home owners would prepare their own bottle as well.
- Candles: Candles have always been a part of Roman Catholic culture in the Philippines. Any size and type of candle will do, but if you’d like to make the ceremony more solemn and symbolic, you can buy big purple candles for everyone. Purple is the color of peace and harmony within a household, therefore, using these candles is believed to bring stability to those who are living inside the house.
- Food: Since house blessings can also become mini-reunions of sorts among friends and/or relatives, then make sure to prepare some food to celebrate the occasion. Also, most house blessings normally occur in the morning or during lunch time.
3. THE RITUAL CELEBRATION
Before the celebration of this event, don’t forget to send out invitations to your friends and family members and make sure that your house looks very presentable for the blessing. During the ritual, the priest will usually recite a prayer prior to blessing the house with the holy water. He will usually go to every corner of the house while spraying holy water in order to bless the important corners of the house.
There will also be a time where everyone who is present inside the house will have to light candles, so make sure that you appoint someone in the household as the “candle bearer” of sorts. Once the prayer and the rituals are done, you can invite everyone to partake the food you have prepared for that day.
For those of different faith
For those who are members of the Protestant church or any other Christian religion in the Philippines, it is usually a minister who does the blessing instead of the priest. However, the ritual isn’t too different. You still need to prepare some candles and holy water for the minister to use during the ritual itself.
Finally, there are the superstitious beliefs that have survived before Christianity arrived in the Philippines. People in the rural areas would sacrifice a white rooster or hen and they would sprinkle a bit of blood on the four corners or pillars of the house as a means of warding off bad luck and to bless the house as well.
Others also believe in placing coins within the cornerstones of each house to insure that should an earthquake or any calamity should fall on the house, the pillars would remain strong and durable.
Indeed, when it comes to blessing one’s home, the Philippines always makes it fun and interesting!
Photo source: http://www.persquare.com.ph/for-sale/2-storey-central-visayas-cebu-mandaue/duplex-townhouse-in-canduman-mandaue-with-3-bedrooms_90502 – Bachelors Realty and Brokerage
