August 26 2013 Philippine holiday –
Araw ng mga Bayani 2013
Filipinos nationwide will have their third holiday for the month of August this August 26, Monday. The nation will mark its annual Araw ng mga Bayani or National Heroes’ Day on the said day. It is listed as a national holiday based on president Benigno Aquino III’s Proclamation 459, which he signed September of last year. The National Heroes’ Day is celebrated every last Monday of August. The said holiday creates another three-day weekend for the month of August (as noted in previous posts, Eid’l Fitr will be on August 9).
We commemorate a pivotal point in Philippine history during the last week of August. In his definitive book Revolt of the Masses, preeminent historian Teodoro Agoncillo pointed out that national hero Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan officially began the war of independence against the Spanish regime in late August, 1896*.
The momentous Cry of Pugadlawin (or “Sigaw sa Pugad Lawin“), an anticlimactic moment that marked the beginning of the revolution, happened during then. Most Filipinos associate the event with the Katipuneros’ tearing of their respective cedulas, although the exact date and place of the “cry” remains disputed to this day (Agoncillo puts it at August 23).
*Agoncillo, Teodoro A. The Revolt of the Masses (1956 ed.). University of the Philippines Press. Quezon City. pp. 149-153
Please like the Facebook page of “The Filipino Scribe”!
About Author
I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I encounter a blog that’s equally educative and interesting, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something that not enough folks are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy I stumbled across this in my hunt for something regarding this.|