BOOD PROMONTORY 1st EASTER MASS ECO PARK, Pinamanculan, Butuan City

This hill site or “Bood” in Butuanon dialect in Baragay Pinamanculan, is the historic site of commemoration when Magellan and his men erected a cross and celebrated the 1st Mass on Philippine Soil on March 31, 1521. It is the highest elevation and promontory overlooking the whole of Butuan bay and Masao River.

Today, the indigenous “Hadlayati Tree” still abounds lording over a Clonal nursery and tree park, and the serpentine Masao River (ElRio de Butuan) amidst fishponds and archaeological treasures.

On this hill an image of the cross was put up to celebrate the historic event of the 1st Mass and the planting of the sign of the cross in Philippine soil. Pigafetta recorded this event which took place in the afternoon of March 31, 1521 after the Easter Mass was celebrated in the morning of the same date. Two Butuanon brother kings attended these Easter ceremonies of 1521. According to the chronicles of Pigafetta, rice fields and Balanghai boats could be seen on the hill where they were.

The park was constructed not just for its historical significance but to provide to the people of Butuan including its visitors to rekindle the past during the first landfall of Magellan in the Philippines.