Gozos Para Kay Nuestra Señora de Salvacion (Melodia Procesional de Legazpi)

Since May 1945, after Legazpi City was liberated from the Japanese, this Gozos music was sung around downtown Legazpi City as a processional hymn for the aurora, which in that year was just started as a 50--year thanksgiving vow at Barangay Ibong Capantawan and neighboring barangays of Tinago, Oro Site, Bitano and which later expanded to include the other outlying barangays, with its Main Altar (Kinurobong) situated in what is now the LCC Grocery at Ayala Malls Legazpi. The vow was in gratitude to the Blessed Mother of Salvation for the release of Legazpeño guerillas who were captured and became prisoners of war of the Japanese. This was a miracle these men attributed to her intercession. Those who were executed by the Japanese are now memorialized by the "Pugot na Tawo" statue, now located in front of the Legazpi City Post Office. The Legazpi Aurora and its hymns are living memorials of faith and gratitude by those who survived the horrors of World War II. The Legazpi Aurora, which drew its inspiration and model from the popular devotion in similar aurora activity at Barangay Bonga, grew in prominence as a Community Activity in the 50s and 60s, with its Amateur Singing Contest drawing participants from many parts of Albay and nearby provinces. The late night celebrations were halted in the early 1970s after the imposition of Martial Law and curfew hours, and upon resumption a few years later somehow no longer managed to revive its former "glory" as a major Community Event in the city. In 1995, during the 50th Anniversary Celebrations, many among those who were freed from their Japanese imprisonment and initiated the Aurora in 1945 were still alive to commemorate the completion of their 50-year vow.

In 2020, the aurora at Capantawan turns 75 years old. None of the Legazpeño menfolk who initiated it are still alive, but it has survived despite its reduced scale, and has spawned all the other aurora celebrations in other parts of the city and the province.

This year, the aurora will be celebrated in a lockdown in ways never before imagined, nor perhaps ever thought by its initiators, who were then in a lockdown by the Japanese at the height of World War II. May this year's unique celebration free us fro the bondage of the Covid19 pandemic and free us from the perils of this disease, ever hopeful and confident of the protection of Our Lady of Salvation, Ina Nin Kada Harong.

"Aurora Sa Panahon Nin Pandemia", is a gift of Barangay Capantawan to the Diocese of Legazpi by sponsoring and conceptualizing this event, as a culmination of the grateful vow promised by our parents, which have now way exceeded 50 years. May this become a turnover celebration, so that by the grace of God, the aurora may evolve to become a truly diocesan activity, not just a popular devotion outside of the purview of the Church but truly aligned with the teachings of the Church.

May 13, 2020, Wednesday
Feast of the First Apparition of Our Lady of Fatima
Day of Consecration of Albay and the Whole Philippines to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary