page_title: Santa Maria, Bulacan
section_title: Festivals
hierarchical_section_title: Santa Maria, Bulacan / Tourism / Festivals
context_page_description: Santa Maria, officially the Municipality of Santa Maria, is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 256,454 people. representing 7.8% of the population of the province.
  Located on the banks of the Santa Maria River, 32 kilometres north of Manila, Santa Maria has been a thriving settlement for almost four centuries. It was founded as a barrio of Bocaue in the early 17th century until it was established as an independent municipality on November 26, 1793 by the Spanish friar Francisco Dominguez Javier OFM. Known before as Santa Maria de Pandi, it is named under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. Its administrative center, the Poblacion, forms as the historic core of the municipality. It is surrounded by four rivers and it still largely retains its 2.88 square-kilometer boundaries since the Spanish Colonial Era.
  Santa Maria, with a population of 256,454, remains by a significant margin the most populous municipality in Central Luzon, as well as the 5th most populous municipality in the Philippines. It is also the 2nd most populous local government unit in Bulacan next to San Jose del Monte City.
context_section_description: The town fiesta of Santa Maria in honor of its Patroness, the Purisima Concepcion is a month-long celebration in February which clearly shows the Marian devotion of the town. The movable feast is held on the Thursday after February 2 which tradition refers to as La Candelaria. It is preceded by the traditional novena of Masses before the feast and High Masses and processions on the Sundays of the month.
  Throughout the month several other events are held such as musical variety shows led by popular personalities, outdoor sports exhibitions of nationally acclaimed players, concerts by well known bands and cultural shows.
  Most notable during the month of February is the availability of "Tuge", a ready to eat root crop sold by vendors that signify the ambiance of the festivity together with the cool breeze which last right after the celebration of the town fiesta.
  The joyous celebration of February takes on a somber mood as the liturgical calendar moves on to Cuaresma or Lent.
  Apparently, the devotion was brought by the Franciscans who evangelized the town where the principal celebrations before the War was celebrated at the Lourdes Church which was then in Intramuros. Lost during the War, it was revived by the Hermandad y Cofradia de la Sagrada Pasion y de Maria Santisima de la Esperanza, a confraternity organized in 1999 to spearhead the revival and promotion of the Lenten traditions of Santa Maria from the Jubilee Year 2000 onwards. Incidentally, the Hermandad de la Sagrada Pasion has been an affiliate of the Hermandad de la Macarena in Seville, Spain since 2008 making it the twenty first confraternity to be recognized, the second outside of Spain and the first in Asia.
caption: Wave pool at 4K Resort in Catmon
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