C O M PA S S
Clockwise from top left: Stores selling
saints and other religious figures line
up Tayuman; Felymar Special Bibingka
(1830 Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila).
Felymar brings Christmas to Tayuman
365 days a year with its city-wide famous
bibingka (rice cake); Pictured is their face-
sized Super Special, cooked fresh from a
clay pot and best eaten hot; Faith for sale
Tayuman
In Tayuman, religion is a business. Attracting a different kind of shopper,
religious craft stores line up the street immediately below the station.
Handmade saints (porcelain from Bulacan, woodwork from Paete) gather
at the storefronts, beckoning devotees and tourists to bring home a miracle.
The shops complement the sight of the 83-year old Archdiocesan Shrine of
Espiritu Santo, which, like many Catholic churches in the Philippines, used to
be a cemetery and is a survivor of the city’s hard times.
p ho t ogr a p h y Victor Burgos
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