By J. Jala | 01:36 PM May 24, 2020
The novel coronavirus pandemic is affecting the old tradition of Loboc town.
People dancing in front of the caro of Our Lady of Guadalupe de Extremadura, a common sight each year, was not seen this year in Loboc town.
“Bolibongkingking” is not taking place this year.
Instead, a private mass was held at the Sts. Peter and Paul Parish. A video of the mass was available online at the Loboc Parish Church Facebook page.
“Gimingaw mi kay kada tuig namo nga panaad na sa Birhen nga mag bolibongkingking,” said resident Inday Ondal. “Sunod nalang hinaot nga mawala na ning Covid.”
On Saturday, May 23, a great caravan procession with bolibongkingking on the streets was held at around 4 p.m. Residents joined in the bolibongkingking shortly.
It was one of those rare times when the original Virgen de Guadalupe de Extremadura was brought to the streets during procession.
Lobocanons danced the Bolibongkingking before the original image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as she was paraded in the streets of Loboc.

On Sunday, May 24, after the online pontifical mass officiated by Bishop Arturo Bastes, Emiritus of Sorsogon, a virtual bolibokingking participated in by selected women happened.
According to the local church records, Bolibongkingking is celebrated every 23rd-24th of May in the municipality of Loboc. This is a music and dance festival of folklore and traditions from the centuries-old history of Loboc.
Its name traces back from the sound and rhythm of local drums known as “gimbaw” which are used as musical accompaniment to the dance ritual of supplication by devotees in front of the image of Loboc’s second patron saint, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The origin of the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe de Extremadura started in Spain.
The shrine of the Lady was the most important Marian Shrine in the medieval kingdom of Castile. It is revered in the monastery of Santa Maria de Gualupe, in today’s Caceres province of the Extremadura autonomous community of Spain. The shrine housed a statue reputed to have been carved by Luke the Evangelist and given to Saint Leander, archbishop of Seville, by Pope Gregory I. When Seville was taken by Moors, a group of priests fled northward and buried the statue in the hills near Guadalupe River in Extremadura.
At the beginning of the 14th century, a shepherd claimed that Virgin Mary had appeared to him and ordered him to ask priests to dig at the site of the apparition. Excavating priests rediscovered the hidden statue and built a small shrine around it which evolved into the great Guadalupe monastery.
The Loboc devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe descended from the Spanish tradition.
Lobocanons celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe de Extremadura every 24th of May.
In the 1840s, the Agustinian Recollects brought with them from Spain an image of Our Lady carved from black wood and stands 7 ft high. The image was placed on a crate and was intended for veneration in Tagbilaran.
Since townspeople found it hard to open the enclosure of Our Lady , they chose to let her stay inside her crate while visiting several parishes from Tagbilaran.
The image went to as far as Carmen town overlooking the town of Loboc that was then plagued by the deadly cholera epidemic. Many people died.
However, feeling responsible for ignoring Loboc of the visitation of Our Lady, they pursued in bringing the image of Our Lady of Gudalupe to the Parish of Sts. Peter and Paul. This happened on May 24, 1843.
And the crate bearing the image of Our Lady was unlocked without difficulty.
The Lobocanons in their grief and with a vestige of hope, turned to the Blessed Virgin Mary for help, through the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. And the supplication of the Lobocanons was answered.
After bringing the image to a fluvial parade in the Loboc River, a three-hour downpour took place. The cholera epidemic lifted and the people were able to resume their daily occupations and get on with their lives.
