Flores De Mayo or Santacruzan Festival in Philippines

Flores De Mayo or Santacruzan Festival in Philippines is famous for its package of colors, beauty and purity. Celebrated in the month of flowers or May, Flores De Mayo or Santacruzan Festival is very popular among the Filipinos as well as the tourists. Flores De Mayo or Santacruzan Festival in Philippines is also observed as a ritual of puberty among young girls and boys, through which all of them are matured into adulthood. This festival is celebrated for a month in honor of the Virgin Mary surrounded by the bounty of flowers like ilang-ilang, hibiscus and sampaguitas just before the onset of rains. History says that the Spanish conquerors had introduced this festival more than a century ago.

Features of Flores De Mayo or Santacruzan Festival in Philippines

-Statues of Mary are decorated with flowers by maidens
-The festival comes to an end on the last Sunday of May with a beauty pageant of young girls
-The parade of the beauties in gorgeous dresses, symbolize the search and discovery of Christ's Cross by Queen Helena and Constantine.
-Even the Parish Church altars and aisles are decorated with beautifully designed set of flowers referred to as the "Flores De Mayo" (Flowers of May).
-Flores De Mayo or Santacruzan Festival in Philippines also consist of community congregations, feast, merrymaking and dance
-In some places, an evening mass called "Santacruzan" (Festival of the Holy Cross is organized to venerate the finding of the Holy Cross by Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great in Jerusalem.