WE ARE truly a “fiesta island.” Across the length and breadth of the Philippine archipelago, countless festivals are celebrated often in honor of a patron saint. As a central event in the community life, the fiesta is marked with a profusion of religious rites and devotions, colors and glitters, and festivities carried out with utmost delight, spending spree and typical wastefulness.
Fiestas or festivals bring people together in a celebration of our rich cultural heritage, enabling families, neighbors and communities to rekindle spiritual ties, to honor ethnic roots and renew relationships, to feed and entertain guests, and to partake in a spectacle of drama, excitement and fun.
But while festival committees elaborately plan for the various activities to mark our religious heritage, the fiesta’s environmental impacts are hardly ever considered. Unnoticed by many, our customary feasts and rites, fairs and concerts, parades and pageants, fireworks displays and even our salo-salo can severely spoil the environment, set off pollution and climate change.
From being unmindful of the environmental consequences of our vibrant community celebrations, let us pay serious attention in reducing the fiesta’s health and environmental impacts, and strive to transform our revelries into “zero waste celebrations of life.”
As the Bishops said in their most thought-provoking pastoral letter on ecology many years ago: “This is our home; we must care for it, watch over it, protect it and love it. We must be particularly careful to protect what remains of our forests, rivers, and corals and to heal, wherever we can, the damage which has already been done.
“The relationship which links God, human beings and all the community of the living together is emphasized in the covenant which God made with Noah after the flood. The rainbow which we still see in the sky is a constant reminder of this bond and challenge (Gen 9:19). This covenant recognizes the very close bonds which bind living forms together in what are called ecosystems. The implications of this covenant for us today are clear. As people of the covenant, we are called to protect endangered ecosystems, like our forests, mangroves and coral reefs and to establish just human communities in our land.” (CBCP Pastoral Letter on Ecology, “What is Happening to Our Beautiful Land,” 1988)
We can make our fiesta a fitting expression of our communion as stewards of Mother Nature by striving to reduce waste to zero or darn near, preventing all forms of pollution, conserving water, electricity and other resources, and saving funds for basic needs and charities.
