Sacred Songs of Peace: An Interfaith Celebration of the International Day of Peace 2007 September 21st
Environmental Studies Institute
Miriam College, Quezon City
Philippines
As the conference hall started to be filled with the flags of the different religious symbols and display banners from different faiths, the presentation area also started to be filled with musical instruments. On one side: a drum set, electric guitars and amplifiers were positioned; on the other side—gongs, drums and bamboos were laid on the floor. Little by little, group by group, people started to fill the chairs. As the early birds took their seats, videos on the United Religions Initiative (URI) were shown.More and more colors filled the hall. They were colors of diversity. Dressed in street clothes, school uniforms, habits, hijabs, orange and white robes, kimonos, ethnic beads, batik, turbans and what not— they were representatives, members, peace advocates, religious and lay, teachers, and a big number of youths and students coming from different faith groups, schools, NGO’s, and spiritual organizations who came to join The Peacemakers’ Circle Foundation, Inc. (PCFI) and the interfaith community in celebrating the International Day of Peace 2007 with “SACRED SONGS OF PEACE” on September 21, 2007 at the Miriam College Environmental Studies Institute.
Nearly 200 people attended the evening’s musical celebration which wove a symphony of prayers, meditation, chanting, songs and dances from various spiritual traditions. Following the Welcome Remarks by URI SEAsia-Pacific regional coordinator & PCFI OIC, Dr. Shakun Vaswani; meditation & silencing was led by Mr. John Dowling of Brahma Kumaris. This was followed by a song number from a special celebrity guest: model/actress-singer/environmentalist Ms. Chinchin Gutierrez (who recently launched an album of interfaith songs). Writer/dancer/artist-teacher Ms. Maria Abulencia, with the cultural workshop group, Hibla, rendered a spontaneous dance peace ritual. Imam Akmad Wahab of Filipino Muslim Youth Council for Peace & Development offered a Qur’anic chanting prayer and an Islamic song, while the Anada Marga Yoga Society presented a mantra song. This was followed by lively bhajan chanting and dancing by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON/Hare Krishna). Baba Surinder Singh Ragi of Guru Nanak Mission (Sikh) offered a short prayer-chant.
Another lively presentation was rendered by the Salesian Youth Movement of Don Bosco School (Catholic) who brought their whole band with full equipment.
A dance number invoking Lord Ganesha, the deity of wisdom and remover of obstacles was then presented by the Hindu girls in their tradition classical dance costumes, while equally colorful in their kimonos and Japanese outfit were members of Shinji Shumei Kai who also offered chanting and a dance.Another special group that performed was the Kulay-Wala band --composed of youths from the grassroots community of Brgy. Camarin—representing the GenPeace Youth Network. This was followed by an innovative step dance performed by youths from the Baha’i Faith national center, and a song number from Mr. Bob Guerrero of the Unitarian Universalist community of Manila.
Finally, the Byakko Shinko Kai members were led by Ms. Tomoko Ukai (who was visiting the Philippines from Japan), along with Ms. Norma Correa (Nanamaru) and Orlan de Guzman, Jr. (ShinJin-Manila) to demonstrate the Divinity-In of WareSokuKamiNari, 
JinruiSokuKamiNari, and Kokyoho while Ms. Yeyet San Luis read the Divinity-In Declarations and explanations of each movement. The audience also joyfully followed them in the performance of the prayer movement.The evening was capped with the reading of the UN secretary general’s official message on IDP 2007 and the World Peace Prayer ceremony. This was led by WPPS representative, Mr. Toots Fungo, who distributed to each one in the hall during the ceremony the flag-cards representing the different world nations for which everyone prayed for peace to prevail.
Through Shakun as URI SEAP regional coordinator and PCFI executive director Ms. Marites Africa (who hosted the whole program), the organizers heartfully thank all the participants, performers, volunteers and supporters, and all those who attended the event-- especially representatives from the JPICC-AMRSP (UN-IDP secretariat), Xaverian Missionaries, Miriam Center for Peace Education, Young Moro Professionals Network, Christian Peacemakers Team, Canossa School - Sta. Rosa, Roots of Learning, PeaceTeach, Pax Christi. Thank you all for the beautiful and powerful stand for unity and peace!
