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Storm bolsters Philippine water-drenching ritual

Thousands of Filipinos in a Manila suburb honored their patron saint John the Baptist by drenching passers-by and motorists in a raucous annual water festival Wednesday.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 15:56 June 24, 2009
  • Gulf News

Manila: Thousands of Filipinos in a Manila suburb honored their patron saint John the Baptist by drenching passers-by and motorists in a raucous annual water festival Wednesday.

Police intensified street patrols to prevent any scuffles in San Juan, where armies of residents - some armed with drums of rainwater from a tropical storm - woke early to train water guns, high pressure hoses and buckets on shrieking crowds.

One small child dumped a bucket of water on a police officer" he managed to keep his cool along with most of the commuters caught up in the one-day celebration in the heart of the Philippine capital.

Mayor JV Ejercito joined the annual merrymaking by riding in a convoy of fire trucks that used their water cannons to drench children and other revelers under an overcast sky.

The ritual to commemorate Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist has been celebrated for decades in the Philippines, Asia's largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Susan Samuele, a 40-year-old mother of four, filled six water containers with rain water dumped by an approaching storm overnight then waited with her cousins and friends in a congested alley armed with toy water guns.

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By noon, she said she had ambushed about 100 passers-by, and not one had complained.

"It's clean fun with clean water," Samuele said.

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