A MAJOR religious festival in the Philippines will be celebrated in Tavistock on Sunday, January 17, at the request of local Filipinos.

Fr Denis O'Gorman of Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church in Tavistock said the Festival of Santo Niño is to Philipinos what the Chinese New Year is to the Chinese.

In Tavistock the festival will start with a procession from the town centre at 3pm, finishing at the church at approximately 3.30pm.

It will be met by the Bishop of Plymouth, Bishop Christopher, who has agreed that this should be an RC diocesan celebration and who will be the chief celebrant at the mass.

Fr O'Gorman said he wanted everyone to feel welcome to join them. 'The Filipinos who are organising the event are anxious that everybody feels welcome and have chosen all the hymns in English,' he said.

The focus of the celebration for those other than Philipinos would be that of the Presentation.

'At the Feast of the Presentation, we celebrate the close of the Christmas season. During Advent, we have prepared for the birth of Jesus. Our Lady gave birth to Jesus in the silence of night in Bethlehem, but at the Presentation (in public), she gives Jesus to the world. So we are able to receive Jesus and to "grow in his love, forgiveness and grace",' he said. 

The Feast of Santo Niño celebrates the coming of the Christian faith to the Philippines when Magellan established Christianity in Cebu and gave the statue of Santo Niño to Queen Juana on her baptism.

'This feast is appropriate because the Filipinos have brought their faith into our parish and enriched it; so we too have great cause to be thankful,' Fr O'Gorman said.