Candaba awaits ‘miraculous’ birds on feast of San Nicolas

CANDABA, Pampanga — Folk in this town, led by Mayor Jerry Pelayo, are anticipating not only the arrival soon of various species of migratory birds, but also the occurrence of what they have always believed, since the days of their forefathers, to be a "miraculous" phenomenon every Sept. 10.

"We have never been able to explain it. But the birds we call ‘tarat’ will again appear tomorrow outside our parish church as we start the first day of our traditional Novena to San Nicolas," Pelayo told The Star yesterday amid preparations for the saint’s feast day tomorrow.

Pelayo, a native of this town, attests that the bird species appears over a certain period starting exactly on Sept. 10.

"They’re just there perched on trees outside the church after the first morning Novena to San Nicolas and they stay on for a certain period of time before vanishing again to resurface on the same date the following year," Pelayo said.

At least in this town, the ‘tarat’ species, also known as "brown shikes", show up at a four-foot tall statue of the saint, known worldwide as St. Nicholas or Santa Claus, is brought out for a traditional procession. This year, the statue, which holds a mitre in one hand and a bird which Pelayo identified as ‘tarat’ in the other, will stay briefly at the mayor’s house in Bgy. Paralaya.

Pelayo said that he and other local folk have always observed that since their youth, ‘tarat’ birds appear exactly on the feast of St. Nicholas. "Even our grandfathers attest to the same experience. I really believe there is something mystical about this, and I can relate it only to the providence of St. Nicholas," he said.

Michael Lu, president of the Wild Birds Club of the Philippines, said that brown shikes are migratory birds from China which are known to fly into the country in the middle of September, staying on until April the following year. — Ding Cervantes