Holy Week In the Philippines 09

As a nation that highly values religious traditions, Holy Week in the Philippines is celebrated in total solemnity.

Both Christian and superstitious traditions mix in remembering the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Many still practice not eating pork/beef during the Lenten season, while others acquire some other forms of penance or fasting. I remember being told by my grandparents not to take a bath/shower on Good Friday, or to be exhuberant in this day of ‘mourning’.

Growing up my sibs and I would line the streets with candles, waiting for bloodletting to begin… yep, bloodletting. Beginning at noon on Friday, we would see several men naked from the waist up and walking barefoot as they scourge themselves with ropes or bamboo sticks. It’s a form of atonement for their sins, we were told. The pinacle of this is hanging several men on crosses as a reenactment of Jesus’ crucifixion. All across town, there are dramatizations and reciting of the passion of Christ. All across the nation, the lent is celebrated with fervor and solemnity.

In Quiapo Manila, there is the procession of the Black Nazarene, a century-old black statue of Jesus that devotees consider to be miraculous. In Manila there is the Visita Iglesias, or the practice of visiting 14 churches and reciting the 14 stations of the cross.

In Marinduque, there is the Moriones Festivals, where people dress up like Roman soldiers to remember the beheading of Longinos. In Sipalay, Negros Occidental, quack doctors go to unexplored caves on Good Friday in search of amulets for healing and power.

The most famous of all lenten celebration is the “PAGTALTAL SA JORDAN” in Guimaras Island. Attended by tourists from all over the world, it’s a reenactment of Jesus’ sufferings on his way to calvary.