Ambassador Henry S. Bensurto Jr. addresses the Filipino community members of Türkiye celebrating the Flores de Mayo and Santacruzan in Ankara. (Embassy photo)

ANKARA, 28 May 2024 – The Philippine Embassy in Ankara celebrates with the Filipino community in Ankara the Flores de Mayo and Santacruzan, two Filipino traditions held annually in May. Two Filipino community groups, The Hope of OFWs and the Fil-Turk Friendship and Solidarity Association, jointly organized the event on 19 May 2024, at the Meryem Ana Catholic Church, Birlik, Çankaya, Ankara, after the international mass of the Pentecost.

In his speech, Ambassador Henry S. Bensurto Jr. thanked the two organizers of these popular Pinoy festivals, who promoted both the culture of the Philippines as well as the friendship between the Filipinos and the Turkish people. He also thanked the Filipino community members who participated as Sagalas, Princesses of the Santacruzan, who portrayed a very important cultural heritage in the Philippines. The Flores de Mayo and Santacruzan highlights that the true Filipina beauty belies not only on the physical form, but also in the inner beauty of the heart. 

(Left) A Filipino-Turkish teen and a princess of the Santacruzan offers a flower to the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Right) Filipino community members portraying Reyna Helena and Constantinople. (Embassy photo).

Ambassador Bensurto encouraged the Filipino community to continue hosting these two beautiful traditions of our country in Türkiye .  He emphasized on the importance of celebrating Flores de Mayo and Santacruzan, which are primarily held to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary. The tradition not only showcases our culture but it also exemplifies the virtues of the Virgin Mary, who was also herself an expatriate in a distant land. He also reflected on the symbol of the cross of Jesus Christ as discovered by St. Helena.

“Most of you who are here are out of the country seeking greener pastures to provide for your family, sacrificing many things and that is your cross. When you understand the cross that you carry, it does not become burdensome.  Like the true cross of Jesus Christ which St. Helena found, it is “not anymore a symbol of suffering but the weight of the cross becomes light when we allow Christ to carry the burden for us,” he added. 

Left photo: Ambassador Henry S. Bensurto Jr. and Madame Ann Mariza N. Sanchez-Bensurto pose with the Filipino community in Ankara at the Flores de Mayo and Santacruzan event held at Meryem Ana Catholic Church. (Embassy photo). Right photo: Ambassador and Madame Bensurto with Ms. Dolores Inosanto Adiyaman (second from right), President of the United Filipinos in Izmir and Mr. Randy Canlas (first from right), President of the Overseas Filipino in Ankara Association (OFAA) supporting the event. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Adiyaman).

The Flores de Mayo is a Catholic Marian devotion by offering flowers to the Virgin Mary and the recitation of the Rosary. The Santacruzan commemorates the discovery of the True Cross of Christ in Jerusalem in 321 AD by St. Helena of the Cross, the mother of Constantine the Great. END