We have decided having a side trip with my family to Masao Island. Just a purely family affair having we call it bonding time for all of us – me, my wife, and my two little angels. Going to Masao Island is the only thing that I have in mind since it is the best place to refresh you, and become in love with nature again. This is how I love Caraga.
Masao Island is found in barangay Masao which is one of the 86 barangays of historic Butuan City. It faces Butuan Bay and at the back was Masao River. I think the only place in Butuan City that is a beach resort, and to think that Butuan has 86 barangays, so sad to think that only two are on the coastlines and one of them was barangay Masao where Masao Island located.
In history, its old name was Mazaua Island. Almost the same tone of Limasawa Island of Leyte that is both names fighting the history of where the first mass was held in the Philippines.
Happy Faces of People
I remember 15 years ago when I went to this island, it is just a quiet place to see – no cottages and few peoples roaming around particularly the fishermen and their family to search food in the sea. And now when I came back, peoples are everywhere and the shorelines were lots of cottages lined-up. Peoples are keep coming from the city and enjoy their journey here.
One particular development was the construction of bridge along the river that makes it easy accessible to the island unlike before it is just a wooden bridge. Those beach goers diverted from neighboring town beach resort to Masao Island since it is closer than anything else.
With my family we enjoyed so much just like taking vacation away from home. The peoples that surrounds can never compare the feelings when they came here. It’s all fun, and forgetting those hustles and bustles behind. People all walks of life diverge in one setting. Butuanons and caraganons are really peaceful and fun-loving peoples.
Although the setting was cloudy, I have here the dramatic shot.
The sand was fine but not fine white sand like what I did in Siargao. But capturing the beauty is not in the sand but the happy faces of peoples that surround us.
This town folk serenaded us with his invented bamboo-made xylophone.
My little angels on the loose…
The Tone of History
Two Butuan kings, Rajah Siagu and Rajah Colambu were brothers who ruled Butuan in pre-Spanish times. When these two Butuan kings met, they proceeded to Mazaua Island (now known as Masao) as their hang-out for fishing and swimming. They devoted their time in Mazaua Island as bonding time like we did with my family and the rest of butuanons.
When Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan came on March 29, 1521, they met and settled in Mazaua Island where they established the first ever recorded blood compact in the history of the Philippines. Then on March 31, 1521 before Magellan left, a mass was held offered by Fr. Pedro Valderrama before the two Butuan kings, and later on, became the celebrated First Easter Mass in the Philippines (not Limasawa of Leyte as disproved by Geo-morphologists and Archeologists).
The footnote of history between Masao and Limasawa of Leyte is when chronicler in one’s of Magellan men calling it as Mazaua. The name itself provided the changes at the end by calling it as “masao” instead of adding”li” in “limasawa” which is telling us as Masao today and not Limasawa of Leyte.
Sometimes I have to think, ‘history is a mystery’ to me until proven guilty.
I think “It’s a great place to go “
Was Mazaua today's Masao? Is Masao an island?
There is so much confusion about the island-port named Mazaua, one is at a loss where to begin to untangle this raveled skein.
Happily, all the eyewitness accounts are now digitized and published on the Web, one merely has to click the keyboard to be able to read these.
There are five out of nine primary sources that mention the Mazaua incident. These are by Antonio Pigafetta, Gines de Mafra, Francisco Albo, The Genoese Pilot, and Martin de Ayamonte.
Here are the URLs of the eyewitness testimonies:
1. Pigafetta — http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=philamer&cc=philamer&idno=afk2830.0001.033&q1=Limasaua&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=13
2. Albo — http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=sea&cc=sea&idno=sea061&q1=Lord+Stanley+of+Alderley&node=sea061%3A1.3&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=299
3. The Genoese Pilot — http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=sea&cc=sea&idno=sea061&q1=Lord+Stanley+of+Alderley&node=sea061%3A1.3&frm=frameset&view=image&seq=85
4. Gines de Mafra — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:First_mass_in_the_Philippines
5. Yamonte — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mart%C3%ADn_de_Ayamonte
All these relations, constituting direct evidence on Mazaua, did not see print until 1800. The last to see print was Ayamonte's, 1933.
The story of Magellan's anchorage on March 28-April 4, 1521 which was known to the world was the one published anonymously in 1536, some 15 years after the incident. In this story the port, by a mysterious accident, became Butuan instead of the real island-port Mazaua.
So from 1536 up to 1800, the year an authentic Pigafetta manuscript was published, the world knew the island of anchorage of Magellan was Butuan.
The Butuan story is the basis for the notion Masao is where Magellan landed.
Masao is not an island. What you are referring to is a spit, not an island. The spit is part of a larger geo-political entity called Barangay Masao, which is not an island either. But sometime in the 1970s a Butuanon amateur historian invented a Philippine gazetteer entry describing Barangay Masao as a landmass surrounded by Butuan Bay and a number of rivers. This false entry sought to make it appear that Bgy. Masao was an island. It was a futile if not dishonest effort. An island is surrounded by sea water.
On the other hand, Limasawa was an invented word by Fr. Francisco Combes, S.J. It comes from a 3-paragraph epitome of Magellan's sojourn in Philippine waters. It is ironically based on the 1536 story where Butuan was the port. Combes, as shown by the date of publication of his work, 1667, had not read a single primary source. He read the 1536 story and a secondhand account by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas which gave a faithful reconstruction of the Mazaua incident.
Combes dismissed the true story of Mazaua by Herrera and adopted the false story of 1536. You can read Combes's 3 paragraphs at http://books.google.com/books?id=NbG7kHtBma8C&pg=PA1&dq=First+mass+in+Limasawa&ei=6w27SZi7IoLKlQS8neDVAg#PPA4,M1.
What was Mazaua? Where was Mazaua? Where is it today?
To get to the answers to these questions, go to the website of the Italian nuclear scientist Dr. Vasco Caini at http://www.xeniaeditrice.it and scroll down to the article Mazaua.
You can also get more at Wikipedia. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_mass_in_the_Philippines and the Talk page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:First_mass_in_the_Philippines.
At Wikipedia, there are articles on Mazaua, Gines de Mafra, Carlo Amoretti, Francisco Combes, Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, etc.
I hope these will help clarify the profound confusions surrounding the issue.
VICENTE CALIBO DE JESUS
ginesdemafra@gmail.com
thank you by the way for that clarification, and your visit to my site sir.
i have read the links that you have given to me, and its worth to read the history of mazaua. i’m getting back like a student in reading the whole context of history.
by the way, masao island is just a spit of barangay masao but was surrounded by waters: butuan bay and a river at the back. it is common knowledge to us that this place was surrounded with water then we called it as an island.
as i read the history of mazaua with the link that you gave…it is sad to say that my teachers were teaching the wrong history. but in my own understanding of the history based on the primary sources that you gave, butuan island was mentioned by pigaffeta was replaced by name mazaua island in the later part of the printing in other sources. there were two brother kings who ruled butuan and the other for mazaua.
on the other hand, in the account of history, there were no mentioning of limasawa.
thank you so much, i will preserve that links that you gave me as my source.
I think you have a very `refreshing’ site here featuring not just our local beaches, but also those found in different parts of the world. Great job! By the way, I’d like to thank you for the site visit today. 🙂
you’re welcome!
I am pleased yami for your revisits later at my page.
very beautiful…
Sounds like you and your family had fun on your vacation.
Thank you for visiting my blog!
Nice photo.It sounds like if you don't show up for practice, that'll be the end of your time with the band.