Pet Blessing

Ours is a Catholic country and part of the tradition is the blessing particularly of a new home, a new car and, of course, a new baby. But there is this blessing that is getting popular, it is the blessing of pets. Usually held in September or October, pet clubs would organize such blessing activities that would be attended by thousands of pet lovers. There is the usual procession by the pets, with their owners, led by the priest. The culmination is the short program with focus on pets and closing the affair is the actual blessing of pets.

Expectedly, the affair is domination by the participant dogs followed by cats. But there are other animals that we see like caged parakeet and other birds, a hamster, turtle, rabbit. It is one fun day because some distributors of pet food and accessories also are there to distribute freebies and also to sell their products. We have attended many pet blessing affairs. Here is my blog on one of those pet blessing - http://petizone.blogspot.com/2011/10/pet...treet.html

Aw, I would go just to see all the cute animals. Of course, I'd have to hug and pet every pooch and grab up every kitty for a quick squeeze. Also, getting freebies is nice too, which would add to the appeal of the day. I don't know if we have anything like that here in the states or not as I've never seen or heard of one, but we do have the Blessing of the Bikes once a year when a priest will bless the motorcyclists. They will drive in from who-knows-how-far and will fill up the highways, streets and freeways in droves. For days, all you hear are motorcycles zooming past on their way to the blessing and then for several days thereafter, you'll hear bikes zooming past in the opposite direction as they head back home. I honestly don't know if every state does this, but mine does and it must be incredible to see thousands of bikes all in one place. I don't know exactly where the event is held, but sometime it might be fun to find out and go there to watch the festivities. I haven't read your blog post yet, but I will try to do so as it sounds really interesting. Okay... change that to I just read it and it looks like a lot of fun was had by all. Did you have to travel far to get there?

The information you have provided is somewhat uncorrelated but I get the hang of it. I don't exactly know which event you are referring to or whether you are referring to the spiritual side of things. Talking of the latter, it is a fact that some families take their animals for blessings. The issue is that if you dare to delve into the biblical side of things, the sins of the land make animals and the ground to suffer. If you delve deeper into the spiritual realm, you'll realize that there are what are called monitoring spirits which lodge in the eyes and ears of animals for onward transmission to the headquarters of the demonic kingdom. However, these are religious issues and I don't intend to raise dust with controversy in this thread anyhow.

(06-12-2016, 06:12 PM)remnant Wrote: The information you have provided is somewhat uncorrelated but I get the hang of it. I don't exactly know which event you are referring to or whether you are referring to the spiritual side of things. Talking of the latter, it is a fact that some families take their animals for blessings. The issue is that if you dare to delve into the biblical side of things, the sins of the land make animals and the ground to suffer. If you delve deeper into the spiritual realm, you'll realize that there are what are called monitoring spirits which lodge in the eyes and ears of animals for onward transmission to the headquarters of the demonic kingdom. However, these are religious issues and I don't intend to raise dust with controversy in this thread anyhow.

How is it uncorrelated? The pet blessing she's referring to is simply an event where pet owners bring their fur babies to be blessed with holy water by the officiating priest. It is sort of like a baptismal event for animals. Here's more information on pet blessing >> http://www.americancatholic.org/Features...essing.asp

Because of our Catholic beliefs, it is held in memory of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the said creatures. We believe that animals are also a part of our existence and more importantly can also be a part of our families, there are events like this where we get to give thanks and ask for God's blessings for His other living creations. After the blessing, sometimes we also get to have fun in whatever festivities prepared after the blessing event.

Here's another link on pet blessing by PAWS.org >> http://www.paws.org.ph/events/category/pet%20blessing

Photo from PAWS.org

@novelangel, there are several venues of the events and fortunately they are all nearly situated with the farthest about 20 kilometers away from our place. We are fortunate to have a car so transportation is not an issue.

You are right, @maxen, I just mentioned being Catholic because the event is officiated by a Catholic priest. But it's actually a sort of pet festival or a gathering of pet owners with their pets. That priest in the photo from PAWS.org is the same priest every year in that pet blessing held in Eastwood City. He already knows my face because I always stay behind him during the parade/procession before the actual blessing.

By the way, the program also includes some guest celebrities who mostly sing and there are also dance numbers. In the audience are some actors and actresses who are pet lovers.