Materializing Devotion: Exploring Identity Negotiation in Parañaque City’s Sayaw ng Pagbati
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Copyright (c) 2026 Jose Antonio Lorenzo Tamayo

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Abstract
Catholics in several Southern Tagalog towns in the Philippines express the joy of Christ’s resurrection through a ritual dance called Sayaw ng Pagbati (Dance of Greeting). In Parañaque City, children in elaborate costumes and holding flags perform the dance ritual in the cathedral early Easter Sunday morning and in their corresponding neighborhoods throughout the day. This study intends to frame the Easter dance through material culture by exploring how ritual objects relate to both performers and the community. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 respondents and unstructured observation of the ritual dance in San Dionisio, Parañaque. The study identifies that ritual objects in the Easter dance mediate and materialize the sacred and entangle both performers and the community in networks of obligation, reception, and identity. As prestige goods, ritual objects function as social markers for the performers and their families.
https://doi.org/10.18458/KB.2026.SI.123