Banaue Rice Terraces Postcard

This is another Banaue Rice Terraces postcard. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World," and is the only monument in the country that was constructed without any influence of foreign intervention. All tilling and maintenance of the terraces must be done manually.

Banaue Rice Terraces Postcard

There are also other similar rice terraces in Asia, like those in Vietnam and China, but the Philippine terraces are situated at much higher altitudes. The slopes terraces in the Cordillera are at approximately 70 degrees maximum of Bali. The terraces are situated at altitudes varying from 700 to 1500 meters above sea level. Also the entire extent of the Philippine terraces is still in active agricultural use today, unlike those in other countries that have been abandoned.

RELATED ENTRY:
Banaue Rice Terraces Postcards

SOURCES:
Banaue Rice Terraces Wikipedia Entry

Pamanaraan: Writings on Philippine Heritage Management
By Eric Babar Zerrudo
Chapter 7: Ifugao Rice Terraces, p. 155

Banaue Rice Terraces Postcard

The postcard shows the Banaue Rice Terraces or the Ifugao Rice Terraces which epitomize the absolute blending of the physical, socio-cultural, economic, religious, and political environment. Indeed, it is a living cultural landscape of unparalleled beauty.

Banaue Rice Terraces Postcard

UNESCO World Heritage Statement of Significance:

Criterion (iii): The rice terraces are a dramatic testimony to a community’s sustainable and primarily communal system of rice production, based on harvesting water from the forest clad mountain tops and creating stone terraces and ponds, a system that has survived for two millennia.

Criterion (iv): The rice terraces are a memorial to the history and labour of more than a thousand generations of small-scale farmers who, working together as a community, have created a landscape based on a delicate and sustainable use of natural resources.

Criterion (v): The rice terraces are an outstanding example of land-use resulting from a harmonious interaction between people and their environment which has produced a steep terraced landscape of great aesthetic beauty, now vulnerable to social and economic changes.

RELATED ENTRY:Banaue Rice Terraces Postcards

SOURCE:
UNESCO World Heritage: Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras

Painting Postcard

The postcard shows another painting by Lourdes Oben Santos. The painting in the postcard is entitled St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companion Martyrs. The back of the postcard mentions some information about the painting, but not if it's in a private collection or museum:

1981
Oil on canvas

St. Lorenzo Ruiz and Companion Martyrs Postcard

The postcard shows the kneeling Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, Dominican Catholic priests and Japanese Catholics. At the top left part of the painting is the tsurushi.

Lorenzo Ruiz, who was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard, sought asylum on board a ship that left for Japan. The boat landed at Okinawa and the group was arrest and persecuted because of their Christian religion, and were brought to Nagasaki. On September 27, 1637, Ruiz and his companions were taken to the "Mountain of Martyrs", where they were hung upside down into a pit known as horca y hoya, or tsurushi (hence it can be seen on the postcard). Two days after, Ruiz died from hemorrhage and suffocation. His body was cremated and his ashes were thrown into the sea.

Lorenzo Ruiz was beatified in Manila on February 18, 1981 by Pope John Paul II during his Papal visit to Manila. San Lorenzo Ruiz was elevated to Sainthood and canonized by Pope John Paul II in the Vatican City, Rome on October 18, 1987 making him the first Filipino saint and the first Filipino martyr.

SOURCES:
Lorenzo Ruiz Wikipedia Entry

Painting Postcard

The postcard shows a painting by Lourdes Oben Santos entitled Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise. I was not able to find a biography or other works of the painter. The back of the postcard mentions some information about the painting, but not if it's in a private collection or museum:

2002
Acrylic on canvass

Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise Postcard

The painting title is actually one of the sayings of Jesus on the cross (second saying to be exact):
(2) Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43)

SOURCE:
Sayings of Jesus on the cross Wikipedia Entry

UPDATE: Paniqui Church

In my blog entry on June 5, 2008 I mistakenly named the church in the postcard as the Paniqui Church of Nazarene. The church in the postcard is actually the St. Rose of Lima Church.

St. Rose of Lima Church Postcard

The St. Rose of Lima Church was built in 1686 by the Dominican friars in honor of the first Catholic saint of the Americas. Its first parish priest was Rev. Fr. Gregorio Echevarria.

RELATED ENTRY:
Paniqui Church of the Nazarene Postcard