THE ANTIQUE BELLS RING AGAIN

THE ANTIQUE BELLS RING AGAIN

The disturbing noise of the busy afternoon was suddenly subdued by the peculiar joyful ringing of the antiquated church bells. They were playing the old familiar “iskela” that I used to hear during happy occasions like when there were “fiestas” or wedding celebrations.

The bells were silenced last September 17, 2009 when the repair of the belfry was started. Exactly four months later, on January 17, 2010 the precious bells were again hanged and yesterday January 20, 2010 they were ‘singing’ again to announce the 149th anniversary of the establishment of the Parish of St . John Nepomucene.

Many anecdotal stories have been told about those priceless bells. Old folks used to discuss about the giant bell, so big that ringing it could cause a pregnant woman to abort her baby because it sounded so loud to be heard clearly to as far as Nasugbu, Batangas. Legend says it was buried.

There was the story about a certain Parish Priest who planned to sell one of those bells to be used in repairing some damaged portion of the old convent. The whole community united to oppose the plan that never materialized.

There were times like during the first and second world wars when these bells were effectively used as alarms to notify the people when there were dangers. For many, many years these bells were instruments to announce certain time of the day as well as important events in the community.

Now that they are ringing anew, many new stories shall happen; many new important events shall be experienced by the people. With the united effort and concern of everyone to rebuild the old belfry structure, the regular melody of the ever efficient “carillon” of the town shall continue to alert the people of various events.

As time moves on the peaceful community shall be evolving with the new technologies, with the new way of life of the puzzling new generation. The church bells shall remain the active witnesses of all that shall come. Things shall change drastically from the way of life to the political practices but the antique church bells shall remain the same.