Masculinity and the ‘Holy Child’ of the Birhen sa Balintawak

Abstract

The Birhen sa Balintawak is the first indigenous representation of the ‘Virgin-with-child’ in the Philippines. Associated with the revolutionary movement of the Katipunan and promoted by Gregorio Aglipay, a revolutionary priest and a founding figure of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, this representation of Mary is connected with the political and religious emancipation of the Philippines. This paper explores the construction of the masculinity of the child that accompanies its mother, arguing that its description and depiction both serve to uplift a particular kind of Filipino (revolutionary) masculinity by legitimizing it religiously and to interpret the Christian tradition in an equally indigenous as revolutionary sense. The paper draws on Aglipay’s 1926 Novenario of the Motherland as its central source.