There’s more to Philippine bet Chelsea Manalo‘s national costume which featured a religious image.
Miss Universe Philippines (MUPH) executive vice president Voltaire Tayag revealed that the first thing they did when she won the Miss Universe Philippines 2024 was to visit Antipolo City.
Chelsea, who represented Bulacan in the national pageant last May, had bested 52 candidates to succeed Michelle Dee in raising the Philippine flag at the world’s most prestigious pageant.
Now, she is vying to clinch the Philippines’ fifth Miss Universe crown against 129 candidates, with three of them her fellow half-Pinays — Cristina Chalk of Great Britain, Victoria Vincent of New Zealand, and Shereen Ahmed of Bahrain.
Chelsea has impressed Filipinos so far with her elaborate national costume, “Hiraya,” which featured an image of Our Lady of Antipolo, also known as Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.
The image can be seen at the back of her detailed blue-and-gold gown.
It also impressed Miss Universe 2023 Top 10 finalist Michelle Dee, who won the Best in National Costume title at the 72nd Miss Universe.
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Chelsea explained that her national costume “depicts the colorful and historical introduction of Christianization and Islam in the Philippines.”
She also cited the spread of Christianization in both the Philippines and Mexico — the pageant’s host country — and noted Manila’s devotion to religious images, citing the image of the Philippines’ Our Lady of Antipolo seen in her gown.
Voltaire revealed that the religious figure plays a deeper part in Chelsea’s journey in Miss Universe 2024.
“Visiting ‘Our Lady of Peace and Good Hope’ (Nuestra Señora de la Paz y Buen Viaje) in Antipolo was the very first thing we did after you won MUPh,” he said on Friday, November 15, referring to the beauty queen.
“You believed in your heart that she guided your journey and blessed you with the crown,” the MUPH executive added.
“In 1626, she was brought to our country from Acapulco, Mexico via a galleon ship. In a very serendipitous way, she has guided Chelsea back to Mexico in her Miss Universe journey,” Voltaire continued.
“Your MUPh family, your team, your family [and] friends and the whole country are praying for you,” he further said.
Voltaire accompanied his post with pictures of their visit to the religious image at Antipolo Cathedral before.
It was also noticed by the MUPH organization, which left heart emojis in the comments section.
According to the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, the Our Lady of Antipolo is an image of a dark-skinned Virgin of Antipolo bestowed with the title “Paz y Buenviaje” or “Peace and Good Voyage” in a 1653 public decree.
The encyclopedia said that the title is historically intertwined with the Manila-Acapulco (Mexico) galleon trade, in which galleon travelers implored the heavens to give them a safe voyage on the high seas.
It was said that among those that boarded the galleons, only the image of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage has a record of eight successful voyages.
As the symbol of peace and a good voyage, the Virgin of Antipolo has traditionally been visited by the faithful to implore her blessing for a safe trip before journeys.