Santacruzan is part religious ceremony, part beauty pageant with origins in Spain and the Philippines dating back to the year 313 and is meant to honor Queen Helena of Constantinople and her son, Constantine the Great for finding the True Crucifix upon which Jesus was crucified.

St. Marys church in Jersey City has led the event with what is claimed to be a fragment of this true crucifix encased in a metal cross which leads the procession of participants of Santacruzan, dressed as religious characters essential to the narrative of the Santacruzan every May for the past 41 years. Girls, showing off their beauty dress as various iterations of Reynas or "queens" and boys dressed as Constantine follow a route down Manilla avenue.


This short book is a look into a Filipino cultural and religious ritual that has now existed in the Filipino diaspora of Jersey City for 41 years. The Santacruzan. Featuring photographs by Brian De Pinto, an essay on her experience growing up with Santacruzan by Kaia Marie Balcos and archival photographs of the event taken by her family decades prior.