10 November 2016 - The Philippine Embassy in Mexico, led by Ambassador Eduardo Jose A. de Vega, joined Mexico as it celebrated the historic Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade in a series of events throughout October 2016.
The most important event was the 10th Festival de La Nao (Galleon Festival) held at the historic Fort San Diego in Acapulco from October 22 to 29. The festival is an annual event organized by the municipal government of Acapulco in commemoration of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade. It is considered the biggest cultural and tourism event in Acapulco with over 80 cultural activities featuring local, national, and international artists from Mexico and guest countries. This year’s festival saw the participation of China, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Spain and the United Kingdom.
During the inaugural ceremony on October 22, the Philippine Embassy, along with members of the Filipino community in Mexico, presented traditional Philippine dances such as the kappa malong, salakot, cariñosa, and bulaklakan. The Philippine presentation also included songs by Filipino community members and a fashion show that featured traditional and modern attire.
In his speech during the inauguration, the mayor of Acapulco, Jesús Evodio Velázquez Aguirre, thanked the embassies in attendance (the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Spain, and the United Kingdom) for their presence at the festival. Mayor Velázquez also highlighted Acapulco’s historical significance in the Galleon Trade, one of the greatest commercial and cultural exchanges the world had ever seen.
Mayor Velázquez expressed his deep appreciation to the fair’s guest of honor, China, and to the other participating countries. He mentioned that the Galleon brought Asia, America, and Europe together via the Manila-Acapulco trade route, and left a lasting imprint on the cultures of all the continents and regions that took part in it.
Prior to the Festival de la Nao, Ambassador de Vega gave a radio interview on October 18 to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia / INAH) on the topic of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon and Mexico-Philippines historical and cultural relations. The interview, which was conducted in Spanish, was hosted by Prof. Salvador Rueda Smithers, a historical expert, and broadcasted on the INAH radio channel.
During the interview, Ambassador de Vega spoke of the close shared history between Mexico and the Philippines, as shown in the multiple cultural influences that each country had on the other. He mentioned Mexican influences on Philippine cuisine, language, and religious culture, while also noting that descendants of Filipino sailors on the Manila-Acapulco Galleon could still be found on Mexico’s Pacific Coast.
The discussion also touched on the parallels between the Mexican legend of La Llorona (weeping ghost) and the character of Sisa from Dr. Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere,” noting the common theme of women mourning their lost offspring.
Prof. Rueda noted that one of Mexico’s national heroes, José María Morelos, was tasked to take Acapulco and the inbound galleons from Manila during the Mexican War of Independence, and that Morelos even owned a Spanish-Tagalog dictionary, presumably for the purpose of eventually contacting the Philippines and fomenting a similar revolution in the archipelago.
Lastly, Ambassador de Vega and Prof. Rueda discussed the Latin practice of compadrazgo or co-parenthood, which is comparable to the Philippine tradition of having godparents for weddings and baptisms. It was noted that certain places in Mexico actually use the terms “nino” and “nina” to denote godfather and godmother, respectively – terms that are virtually identical to the Tagalog “ninong” and “ninang.”
On October 20, Ambassador de Vega visited a special Galleon exhibition at the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City. The exhibit contained numerous artifacts related to the Galleon Trade, including porcelain and lacquerware from China, ivory figurines carved in the Philippines, and the Mexican handicrafts that developed locally as a result of the Asian influences brought over by the galleons. The same exposition also had an explanatory note to clarify that, while “La Nao de China” is a common term among Latin American scholars due to the Chinese goods the ships carried, the galleons never made port in China and actually originated in Manila, bound for Acapulco. END
