Among us Sarmiento siblings, when we were still children, we did not feel so sore when the Christmas holidays were over after New Year. It is because in just a couple of weeks will be the happy family occasion of the Sagrada Familia observance. The Sagrada is how we call the clan organization of the heirs of spouses Norberto Tablizo Sr. and Jacoba de Leon of Virac. The organization is so called because it maintains a religious devotion to the Holy Family for which it holds a novenario starting January 23. The culminating grand gathering happens on the Sunday nearest to February 2, which is the feast day of the Nuestra Sra. de Candelaria.

The Sagrada is one of the more established clan associations in Virac, among such other groups as the Arcilla clan and the Vargas-Wangut. It is exemplary of two central aspects of Filipino culture, namely, close family ties and religiosity. Organizationally, it has secured SEC recognition, has a constitution and by-laws, a well-functioning structure of governance by a set of officers, and is sustained by time-honored traditions. On the whole, the Sagrada illustrates how family values are manifested in socio-cultural practice.

Norberto Tablizo and Jacoba de Leon may have started a family in the mid-19th century, within the last fifty years of the Spanish regime. Theirs was a large brood with eleven children. Two died without putting up their own families, while two others married but did not bear children. Only seven went on to contribute new members to the extended family. They were Tomasa, Pedro, Paula, Juana, Rufina, Antonia and Norberto Jr. in that order. We do not know much about the circumstances of their life, except that they must have been part of the petty ruling class of Virac, the principalia. Norberto served as 102nd capitan municipal in 1856. In addition, other members of the principalia married into the immediate heirs of Norberto and Jacoba. For example, Lorenza, one of the daughters of Rufina, married Eustaquio Joson who would become both capitan municipal of Virac and lieutenant governor of the subprovince of Catanduanes. Cipriano Socito who married Antonia was the last capitan municipal of the Spanish period who surrendered the town to the Americans in 1900. Meanwhile, the youngest daughter Maria married Fidel Surtida who served several times as town executive, albeit they did not bear any children.

We can only conjecture on when and how the clan reunion and religious devotion started. The reunions would have happened when the original nuclear family began to extend as the siblings grew into adults and formed their own families. The devotion might have pre-existed before that as otob of the parents, or else adopted later. For the purpose, a set of icons was procured, that of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. But why peg the devotion to the Candelaria observance of the Catholic calendar the feast day of which is February 2? Is there a connection between the Holy Family and the Candelaria? The answer is yes.

It must be pointed out that the Holy Family has at least three manifestations corresponding to the last three of the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, i.e. the Nativity, the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple. The first is the moment celebrated on Christmas. The second is the Candelaria that takes place 40 days after Jesus’ birth which is why it falls on February 2. The practice by the faithful is to bring to church a special candle and bread (my mother always brought a large-size ensaymada) for blessing by the priest. The candle called perdon is kept by households to lit up during times of calamity, particularly typhoons. The belief is that it can ward off harm. As for the ensaymada, my mother would give each of us her children a portion so that it can nourish our kalag, but also our health.

But the Jesus-Mary-and-Joseph icons kept by the Tablizo-de Leon clan is not of the Candelaria manifestation but that of the Finding of Jesus Temple. Particularly it is that of the holy trio walking together to return home after that conspicuous event involving a precocious Jesus debating with priests at the temple that presaged ministry later in life. Here, Jesus was not an infant anymore but in his pre-teen. At present we do not have any hint as to the icons’ provenance and when it was procured. In any case, it spoke of the relative economic prosperity of the Tablizo-de Leon family. Owning religious image of such proportions is a status symbol. Middle class families in Virac (like elsewhere in Catholic Philippines) demonstrate their high circumstances in life by owning these opulent religious icons. Holy Week processions become a virtual parade of who’s who families in the community, their respective sacred icons taking the role of surrogates of social status. These icons are pampered with opulent vestments and accessories propped up in ornate carosas as they ride through the streets.

The Sagrada Familia graven tableau, however, is not exactly for display to the community-at-large; it involves only a more modest clan-wide exposure, to serve as the material (and yes spiritual) pivot of familial unity and commitment. It is such a most effective rallying point around which socio-cultural values of family are enacted and reinforced.  From the religious flows the social and cultural, all serving to cement and celebrate family. How this happens with the Sagrada, we describe in some details of both the devotional and the organizational aspects.

A few days before the start of the yearly novenario, the Sagrada icons are turned over by last year’s host to the new one. Sponsorship/hosting of the yearly observance is assigned in a series to two of the seven sub-clans such that a cycle is completed in three years. This year, it is the turn of the heirs of Paula and Norberto Jr. combined. The novenario is held in one of the families of the sponsoring sub clans and for 2026 it is my own family, the brood of Felipe Sarmiento and Dominga Arcilla taking the task. Me and my siblings are sixth generation heirs. My mother Dominga was daughter of Teodoro who was son of Juan, the only child of Paula, daughter of Norberto and Jacoba.  So we received the icons and set them up at my sister’s residence in West Garden. The last time we did this was in 2014. But the very first time I remember my family’s hosting was in 1968 when I was only eight years old.

Each of the nine days of novena praying is sponsored by a kahaponon, specifically as follows: the first to seventh day by heirs of respective heir of the sub-clans, the eighth by the host family and the katapusan by the Sagrada Board of Officers. The sponsors take care of the tandan of give-away food and candles. There is a mainstay para-poon or prayer leader. The Sagrada novena is quite tedious that it takes more than an hour to negotiate, and the gozos or responsorial singing is one of the most difficult to perform among the novenarios I have seen, with complicated melodic structure featuring numerous turns and twists.

After the last of the nine-day praying is the grand gathering of the entire membership of the clan, now observed on a Sunday nearest February 2. This year it is going to be on February 1. There is a mass in the morning at the Risen Christ chapel on Moonwalk. Then follows the partying at the hall. There is a program followed by a sumptuous lunch, and them games, dancing and drinking. This is the occasion where members of the clan are able to meet and renew affinities. Currently, the clan is some seven to eight generations deep and could count up to several thousands. About 400 of them come to the gathering. At present, the oldest attendees are from the sixth generation that will deserve the status of katu-uri or elders, while most others will be described as mga kallag-day literally the “distant sprouts” or branches/vines far removed from the mother trunk. But these assignations are hardly heard now.

Organizationally, the clan has a corporate character, meaning the operations and resources are controlled by a set of officers elected by the membership. Such corporation was evolved when sometimes during the mandate of the second generation (the original siblings) they decided that instead of distributing the land-holdings of the family to specific heirs, they will be maintained as common property that will be devoted to the memory of the forebears and the maintenance of clan unity paying religious fealty to the family’s patron saints, the Sagrada Familia.

So it became the practice that the produce from the landholdings (mostly rice fields) of considerable hectarage were used to finance the annual clan reunion. In the 1960s this was implemented by selling the palay to members at reasonable price and the sale output used for both the gathering and expenses to maintain the organization. This was what I witnessed when my father was treasurer of the organization, then called BERTOCOBA & SONS, presided over by Atty. Antonio Socito of the Antonia sub-clan.  As a young teener I took tasks like looking over rice harvesting in Sto. Niño and being treated like a landlord by tenants, or helping out in drying the palay, or assisting in the selling to members who come to our house where the palay was stored.

In the nineties, the organization was registered at the SEC as a foundation under a new name SAGRADA FAMILIA: NORBERTO TABLIZO JACOBA DE LEON AND SONS (NORTAJELS) FOUNDATION. The organization had been facing challenges mainly due to the increasing logistical requirements to sustain, especially because the agricultural produce had become inadequate, exacerbated by the shift to more capital-based economics. For a good number of years now, the organization has been steered under the able presidency of Arch. Angeles V. Tablizo Jr., a descendant of the Norberto Jr. sub-clan. Recently, the leadership was ventured to sell some parcels of riceland in the poblacion that are being overtaken fast by the onslaught of commercialization. The proceeds are going to be invested through, among others, the building of a commercial center-cum-function-areas where income will be set aside for the annual gathering and other operation expenses. Meanwhile, the long-running forms of mutual help extended to members, such monetary assistance when a member dies, are maintained. Plans to grant scholarships to deserving members are being finalized.

Continuously evolving, the Sagrada will have to face challenges of a fast-changing world. The next generations will hopefully face up to the exigency of time, reinventing the Sagrada by upholding and building up from the beautiful traditions established from the past, and making them relevant to the demands of the present and future.

Long live the Sagrada Familia!