Abstract: A local theatre presentation called Araquio, which unpopularly known as a remnant of “moro-moro komedya”, is considered to be one of the cultural influences on the religious-secular drama in the Philippines during the Spanish period. Along with this 130-year old practice is a cultural belief that is often associated with a religious tradition of the miraculous power of faith healing attested by its loyal devotees. With these unspoken ethnographic evidences from the devotees to prove its cultural authenticity to the public, this paper further explored the story of Araquio and its main parts to determine its cultural and religious practices. Consequently, this paper pressingly aimed to produce primary evidences from the devotees by tracing the authenticity of faith healing brought by Araquio. Making all these possible, this research used ethnographic method which is qualitative and exploratory in nature to record the testimonies of the people who experienced faith healing in Santo Tomas, Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija. It was accomplished through a participant-observation technique that is triangulated with interviews and informal conversations in the remote cultural area where Araquio takes place. All things considered, results revealed that the main parts of the Araquio story is composed of seven chapters, and its traces of religious and cultural practices are the search for the Holy Cross, Pantot Dance, and Turn-over Ceremony. Findings also revealed that their devotees who performed the Araquio and became a personaje, never got terminally ill for the rest of their lives.
Keywords: Araquio, religious-secular drama, Holy Cross, Pantot Dance, cultural and religious practices.
Title: Devotees Views on the Araquio Faith Healing: An Ethnographic Evidence
Author: Micua, Angeline Escalera, Ramirez, Renz Michael Flores, Vendicacion, Philip Mercado
International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research
ISSN 2348-3156 (Print), ISSN 2348-3164 (online)
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