STORYBOOK FOR A CAUSE: Artwork & Life Stories

 This image of the Santo Niño is being transformed into a work of art - a model of intricately beaded ceremonial garments. "The Santo Niño devotion is a famous spiritual heritage spread all throughout the Philippines and there are Filipinos who unquestionably attribute the miraculous powers of the infant Jesus, locally known as the Santo Niño even to the simplest of things."  The costume that is being fitted on the figure is the cultural pride of the Gaddang tribe of Paracelis, Mountain Province in the Northern Philippines.  "Exquisite beadwork are trademarks of the Gaddang textiles." It has a lavish embroidery in bright, fiery colors. It is carefully done on handwoven cloth. "Most ceremonial garments have beaded seams and the front flaps of male G-strings as well as male kerchiefs and shirts may display intricate beadwork." The cape which symbolizes the wings has feather-like desig...

 Viewed from a distance, there are strange human faces  carved naturally on this side of the mountain.  Old woman and a young man..  Once you see the images, you seem to be seeing more.. .. and they would appear different each time  There was a story of a woman who suffered so much pain. She ended her agony on this cliff. She slid down onto a crag, and her soul may now be in a deep painless oblivion. Then.. a man on a drunken stupor fell as he ran blindly in the dark, slipping on the carpet of pine needles, then down the cliff into nothingness.    The arch of pinetrees may had been a bait for confused souls. It has a magnet to the edge of nowhere. What mystery does Mount Mong-o hold?  Interesting. But the images may just be incidental structures formed in time by the forces of nature. Poignant images of a late afternoon as we eke out meanings for Mong-o.   Photo/info ...