GASAN CONTINUES TO INNOVATE, TRANSFORM MORIONES TRADITION

 

                                       (Photo credit: The Colors of Marinduque - Trip the Islands)
Through the years, Gasan continues to alter the way Moriones tradition is conducted, keeping abreast with the times and adapting to changes in the social and cultural terrain, new aesthetic sense and perhaps, even in some respects in technical trends, like documentation through vlogging.

In the 70s, the Moriones tradition gained utmost national popularity and pinned Gasan in the international tourism map when Mayor Ruben Mendoza, a staunch promoter of the Morion tradition, initiated to organize Moryon penitents into a unified group, each member registered with tag numbers.  

                                      (Photo credit: @Turismo, Kultura at Sining ng Bayan ng Gasan)

Mayor Mendoza had instituted the “Pugutan” stage play as the culmination of the week-long Lenten tradition. He collaborated with the provincial government (under the administration of then governor C.O. Reyes) who commissioned prominent writer Celso Al Carunungan to pen the script of the stage play.  

Talented Gasan public-school teachers performed brilliantly in the stage play, led by the late Dr Florante Saet and Vivien Saet who acted the major roles as Pontius Pilate and Herodes respectively.

(Gasan Kalutang | Screengrab from: KALUTANG NG GASAN, MARINDUQUE, PAMANA NG LAHI ©iRa Tv Philippines #marinduque (youtube.com)

To make itself distinct from the Moryons of other towns, Mayor Mendoza brought in the “Kalutang” musical group who played wherever the Gasan Moryons go; sometimes in the airport to greet and welcome tourists. Hence, the unique, indigenous Kalutang-sound is identifiable with the Gasan Moryons.

In 1976, when a cruise ship loaded with foreign tourists came and docked at Gasan port, Mayor Mendoza accommodated the tourists with its Home Stay program, enabling Gasenos to receive the visitors and provide lodgings at their homes.

                                                                (Gasan Moriones Higantes)
In 2015, Gasan introduced the Moryones Higantes – infusing the tradition of Gasan Higantes (a practice held during Ninos Inocentes) with the traditional Moriones. It showed huge or gigantic Moryon figures displayed at the town plaza.

                                                                  (Gasan Moriones Street play)
In 2023, Gasan shifted the performance of the “Pugutan”, from the traditional stage to the mobile, more interactive street play, performed in some places of town featuring some old ancestral homes as background.

                                                    (Gasan Movable Giant 1Moryon Photo credit: @Gasan PIO)

This year, Gasenos upgraded the practice by having the “Movable Giant Moryon”, a unique creation of Barangay Banuyo.

                                        (Gasan Most Artistic Moryon Photo Credit: Gasan PIO)

The municipal government also encouraged and inspired the creativity of Gasenos in creating the Moryon costume, apart from simply copying the usual Roman centurion uniform and garb. This year, Mayor Rolando Tolentino recognized and bestowed a prize to three unique Moryon costumes made from local native materials.

These innovations and diverse transformations made through the years make the Moriones tradition in Gasan distinct from the practices of all the other towns in Marinduque, worthy of  emulation and recognition as the cultural nerve center of the province.

(text by ML Salvacion)