Sunday at Tabaco Church

A typical Sunday afternoon mass held for the children of the community. Often the interior is packed to its fullest that people has to congregate outside the church to attend the service. The church of San Juan Bautista was built in the 19th Century by the secular clergy.

The town, Tabaco, got its name from the history below:

About the middle part of the 16th century, a foreign vessel was seen by a fisherman heading for shore. (The fisherman had a lovely daughter whom he and his wife adored so much that on several occasions they protected her when similar vessels docked in the place to pick up young boys and girls who were later sold as slaves in foreign countries). “SLAVE TRADERS AGAIN”, he thought angrily and turned at once his sibid-sibid (banca) shore ward. No sooner had he reached the shore than a group of men from the vessel also took to shore. Even as he raced towards his hut, he shouted at the top of his voice for his wife to give him his bolo to fight the intruders, “TABAK KO! TABAK KO!” (MY BOLO! MY BOLO!) he shouted furiously. The strangers who turned out to be Spanish friars and soldiers who were going to explore and evangelize the place thought that the fisherman was greeting and welcoming them to his land “TABACO”. Forthwith, they entered the word TABACO in their catalogue as the name of the place.

- from: http://elgu2.ncc.gov.ph/tabacocity/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=16

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Asia / Philippines

Lat: 13° 21' 35" N
Long: 123° 43' 48" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.