On St. John’s day in the Philippines, everybody goes to the beach to swim, or at least to get wet. This is in honor of St. John the Baptist, who preceded Jesus as a reformer of Judaism.
St. John immersed his followers in water, and taught them to consider themselves freed of their sins (or at least their past sins) by this. John anticipated the coming of Christ, and in fact, Jesus came to John to be baptized by him.
The idea of purification by water was not John’s; it was an ancient Jewish practice to immerse those who had come in contact with something considered unclean — a dead body, for example, or a pig. John expanded this ritual to signify the washing away of all sins.
When Jesus came to John to be baptized, he was at first refused by John, who knew who Jesus was — a person with no sins to wash away.
But Jesus insisted, and it was done. This event was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus.
Today in the Philippines, St. John’s Day is just an excuse to go swimming. In the barangays, beaches are crowded, fishing bancas are built up into elaborate floats and entered in contests for prizes, and family food crowds all the available sand beside the sea.
Even busy “social” people, like those here, will at least manage to go to a local resort and immerse themselves for a while. They wouldn’t feel sinful or “unclean” if they didn’t do this, but they would feel they had left something important undone.
Certainly, there’s no reason for Filipinos to consider themselves unclean. Compared to Europeans, or even Americans, Filipinos seem much a cleaner people, as a matter of course. People from the cold countries will often skip a daily bath or shower. They don’t sweat in winter, and who wants to get wet on a cold winter day anyway?
But even the poorest Filipino will find some way to wash himself all over at least once a day. It’s a social necessity. It’s always hot here, people get sticky and sweaty, and their neighbors will notice the slightest dirt or smell on their bodies, and comment on it.
But on St. John’s Day, it’s more than just cleanliness that’s being celebrated. Even though most Filipinos are baptized Christians, they still feel it’s wise to symbolically “wash away” the sins and problems of the past year.
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