"A lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth."
– Chairman Mao
The pro-Mazaua groups are 100% sure and rabid about their contentions that Ferdinand Magellan anchored, landed and held the First Mass on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521 in Mazaua, Butuan, Mindanao. So much so that one of their commissioned historians wrote on Magellan's lost landfall and has been writing, publishing, and blogging about it in the Internet superhighways all over the world. He has been calling the attention of the scholars and other experts globally to stand behind his and the pro-Butuanons' backs. Some of them have criticized and insulted the intelligence of the highly educated staff of the National Historical Institute for "not doing their jobs." Like the talking parrots, they have criticized repeatedly a former First Lady of the Philippines for her so-called pro-Limasawa (Southern Leyte) stand.
However, the pro-Mazaua groups depended too much on the contradicting notes of the longitude, latitude and other descriptions of Mazzaua Island which Pigafetta, Albo and de Mafra wrote about. The pro-Mazaua groups relied too much on the eye witness accounts of the dead sailors, dead priests, dead historians, dead people, etc. that had insufficient knowledge of sea navigation, coordinates, world cartography, geography, history ... They had no Global Positioning System (GPS) available during their era of exploration and circumnavigation. They relied too much on their unearth "balanghais" and hundreds of other archaeological artifacts found under the grounds of Mazaua, Butuan City.
Above all, due to their lack of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom on the religious or biblical aspects of Magellan's expedition, exploration and circumnavigation, the pro-Mazaua or Butuan groups failed to decode the science on the "lost day" which the survivors of Magellan's expedition experienced at Cape Verde islands, located off the coast of northwest Africa, after they completed their first circumnavigation on Earth by sailing westward.
Pigafetta logged: "On Wednesday, the ninth of July [1522], we arrived at one of these islands named Santiago, where we immediately sent the boat ashore to obtain provisions. And we charged our men in the boat that, when they were ashore, they should ask what day it was. They were answered that to the Portuguese it was Thursday, at which they were much amazed, for to us it was Wednesday, and we knew not how we had fallen into error. For every day I, being always in health, had written down each day without any intermission. But, as we were told since, there had been no mistake, for we had always made our voyage westward and had returned to the same place of departure as the sun, wherefore the long voyage had brought the gain of twenty-four hours, as is clearly seen."
Magellan and his Spanish-funded expedition forces sailed westward from Spain to search for the Spice Islands, which the Portuguese had colonized few years before including the islands of Mindanao - at least a year prior to Magellan's departure from Spain. If Magellan's expedition anchored and landed in Mazaua, Butuan, how come Pigafetta discovered too late about the "lost day" only after he and his fellow survivors had completed the westward circumnavigation and landed in Santiago Island, Cape Verde which was a Portuguese colony?
Pigafetta should have known and written about the "lost day" if they anchored and landed in Mazaua, Butuan because the Portuguese had colonized and influenced the natives of Mazaua or Butuan before Magellan and his troops arrived. (The Portuguese authorities in Butuan erected years later a historical marker to honor Magellan, not because Magellan was in Butuan but because he was a Portuguese by birth.)
The educated natives in Mazaua or Butuan knew about the calendar from their Portuguese colonizers that arrived in Mindanao via Indonesia, via the Indian Ocean, via South Africa, via West Africa, and all the way from Portugal. The so-called historians, professors, educators, scientists, experts, etc. that supported "Magellan's landfall in Mazaua, Butuan" failed to observe, to learn, and to decipher from the
clear and easily understandable logbook of Pigafetta on the "lost day." It was and is similar to having a "Mark of the Beast" which millions to billions of the Christians around the world do not know about!
Again, Magellan and his fellow sailors who carried the Spanish flag and their Portuguese counterparts traveled from southwestern Europe in opposite directions. The Portuguese had the monopoly to colonize the islands and continents east of the demarcation line all the way eastward to the entire Philippines and the rest of the Far East. The Spanish had the monopoly to colonize all lands west of the demarcation line all the way westward, including the islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the entire American continent including Alaska, Canada, Central and South America, and the entire islands in the Pacific Ocean.
If the Spanish explorers landed in Mazaua, Butuan, Mindanao and spent several days communicating, exchanging gifts, eating and drinking "tuba" with, observing the "First Mass" on Easter with the natives and erecting the cross or introducing Christianity, and doing other gestures of friendships, why did Pigafetta notice the "lost day" too late or until he and his fellow survivors had completed their first circumnavigation, and dropped anchors off the coast of Santiago - one of the islands in Cape Verde? Again, Pigafetta observed: "And we charged our men in the boat that, when they were ashore, they should ask what day it was...."
Let us put it in another way: if Magellan anchored and landed in Mazaua, Butuan and observed "Easter Sunday" on March 31, 1521, the Portuguese-influenced natives in Mazaua should have corrected Magellan that the Easter Mass was over with and that very same day was a Monday, April 1, 1521. Or was it March 30, 1521?
When the Portuguese explored and colonized eastward up to the demarcation line which included the entire Philippine Islands, they carried with them the same calendar which the Spaniards used. Years later, when Magellan and his fellow sailors sailed from Seville, Spain to search for the Spice Islands via the uncharted west, at least from the west coast of the American continent, the Spanish-funded explorers carried with them the same calendar used by the Portuguese that sailed eastward from Portugal which was and is attached to the much bigger Spanish territory in Western Europe.
Since the International Date Line did not exist until 1884, when Magellan landed and had the "First Mass" on Easter Sunday held with the natives of Mazzaua/Limasawa Island, Pigafetta - Magellan's official chronicler - had to be the first person to observe or notice if there was a wrong date. It was neither the wrong calendar day not until the survivors of Magellan's expedition on board the Victoria sailed across the biblical date line which started from the Garden of Eden! Before the turn of the 17th century, the explorers, navigators, colonizers and the other so-called experts believed that the Sun revolved around the Earth just as 1 in 5 Americans still believe today!
For your understanding of the big differences between the Biblical or Hebrew Calendar and Julian or Gregorian Calendar, you should read the article, IDL = a Mark of the Beast which you can find in the Internet. One church minister will give you $1 million dollars (U.S.) reward if you can find a verse in the Old or New Testament Bible which says God commanded the Hebrews, 12 Tribes of Israel, the Lost Tribes, and the Christian converts to observe holy the first day of the week, Sunday, instead of the seventh day - Saturday!
Since the Portuguese colonizers in Mindanao
did not colonize Limasawa or Mazzaua Island in Southern Leyte, when Magellan, Pigafetta, Albo, del Cano, Valderama, and the other Spanish-flag bearing sailors landed in Limasawa or Mazzaua Island, Pigafetta did not write about the discrepancy regarding the "lost day." The calendar used by the educated inhabitants of Homonhon, Limasawa, Cebu, Mactan, Palawan, and other islands in which del Cano, Pigafetta and other survivors landed on including the Spice Islands had to be free from the presence and influence of the Portuguese colonizers that sailed eastward from Portugal to Mindanao via Indonesia.
Therefore, the Spanish-financed Magellan and his fellow sailors in the flagship Trinidad and those in 2 other ships, the Concepcion and Victoria, anchored, landed and observed the "First Mass" on Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521 in Limasawa Island, Southern Leyte!
Let us stop the arguments or debates on Magellan's exact location of the Philippines' "First Mass" on Easter - which was and is a pagan festival or event which originated from Babylon or Iraq few thousand years even before Jesus Christ was born! The so-called important historical debates cannot provide the drastic needs for our fellow 90 million Filipinos!
Bear in mind that Magellan studied Columbus' achievements before Magellan and his fellow explorers risked their own lives to search for the Spice Islands via the uncharted west. He and his troops accidentally ended down in the Philippines where Lapu-lapu killed the unfortunate Magellan and few others in Mactan Island.
Let us learn from Columbus' re-discovery of America: "The first place Christopher Columbus landed when he came to the New World in 1492 was an island of the Bahamas. Columbus claimed the island for Spain and named it San Salvador. Historians are not sure which island Columbus landed, but they think it may have been present-day San Salvador (formerly Watling Island) or Samana Cay." Although Columbus had explored the Caribbeans 4 times in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502, there are proponents for
7 other possible landing sites as to where exactly Columbus and his troops first anchored and landed during their 1492 voyage to the Caribbean Islands!
For the sake of unity to our country's diverse Christian denominations, for the sake of the independent Christian groups and other religious organizations and institutions, for the sake of the tourism and hospitality industries, and for the sake and success of the coming 500th "First Mass" Anniversary Celebration on March 31, 2021, we Filipinos need to get rid of the terminology "First Mass" on Easter - which is again pagan in origin. Instead the right and proper description of the historical and religious events which occurred during the expedition, exploration and circumnavigation should have been "Magellan's introduction of Christianity" in Homonhon, Limasawa, Cebu and few of the 7107 other islands in the Philippines!
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