Trifter

The Philippines is the prime destination for religious Catholic traditions during Holy Week. Aside from the Pabasa, a poetical narration of the life story of Jesus Christ narrated on an out of tune song done everywhere except few regions in Mindanao, almost every province has their respective versions of the Holy Week celebration. The week long vacation traditionally intended for personal reflections and soul searching has become an excuse to bond and relax. The younger crowd takes advantage of the time to hit the beach, meet up with friends and party, while some prefer trips to other countries.

However, no matter how time changes the meaning of Holy Week for Filipinos, traditional religious rituals did not disappear and are still very much practiced in the country. Although these rituals have taken a more festive rather than solemn forms to attract a bigger number of foreign and local tourists, most still argues that indeed, these rituals are still meant for cleansing oneself of sins and honoring Jesus Christ for his sacrifices for human beings.

Two provinces in the Philippines stand out from the rest because of their unique celebrations of the Holy Week especially the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Tourists flock to these provinces to witness the celebrations, more curious of the rituals than joining the spirit of Lent.

Moriones Festival in Marinduque

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This tiny island in Southern Tagalog is oftentimes called the heart of the Philippines because of its location in the center of the map. The heart-shaped island is home to a mere 217,000 residents and is made up of only six towns but famous for its mystical Elephant Island and the three islets called Melchor, Gaspar and Baltazar.

Marinduque is a very rural province, laid back throughout the year with the exception of Holy Week when the province welcomes a big number of tourists who travels here for the Moriones Festival. The people of Marinduque takes pride for the most colorful celebration of the Lenten season with a week long festivitiesthat includes parades of Roman soldiers impersonators wearing colorful masks and costumes, Senakulo, Pabasa ng Pasyon in every municipality, flagellants, fairs and night bazaars, and these days, even nightly concerts.

The celebration starts on Palm Sundays where hundreds of residents go to the church to have young coconut leaves blessed which they would keep throughout the year. As early as Monday, MorionsorRoman soldiers will be littering the streets of Boac and Mogpog, delightingthe locals and visitors and scaringlittlechildren. Most of them are commissioned by the municipal halls and get incentives for participating.
The Moriones costume and the masks are made of materials like capiz, hard wood, metal and clothe, sewn, carved and stitch together laboriously by local craftsmen. Most of these costumes has been with its owners for more than a decade and taken care like precious jewelries. An original mask costs around P3000 or more because of its quality, materials and longevity. Morion is derived from the Latin word which means mask or helmet.

Holy Wednesday is the start of the Senakulo, the play re-enacting key stories from the Bible, from Genesis until the ascent of Jesus Christ to heaven, held in Boac town proper amphitheater near the river, which starts at 7pm and continues nightly until Black Saturday.

However, the highlight of the play is not exactly Jesus Christ’s crucifixion on Friday afternoon at 3PM but on Saturday when Longhino, the leader of the Roman soldiers is beheaded the next day, Black Saturday. Longhinus was the head of the roman Morions and you cant miss him with his most beautiful costume and one blind eye in his mask. Unlike in some province, the crucifixion in Marinduque is not as painful because the actor is only tied to the cross. The celebration is more of an honour to Longhinus.

The story goes that Longhinus used to pierce the side of Jesus Christ to ensure that He is truly dead but then His blood flows in his blind eye making him see again. At first he despise the idea that it’s a miracle from God but when he saw Jesus Christ rising from the tomb, along with his comrades while they are standing guard, he proclaimed the greatness of God. Caesar Pilate heard of this and ordered his beheading, witness by all of the town people.

The beheading signals the end of the play as well the departure of the tourist. By the afternoon of Easter Sunday, Marinduque retreats to its usual quietness and continues to be another Filipino countryside until the next Holy Week.

Pain and Sufferings in Pampanga

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The province of Pampangainthe North, aside from being the culinary capital of the Philippines is also famous for its yearly real crucifixion rituals where they use huge nails hammered on the hands and feet of the participants. The celebration in San Pedro Cutudgives a more painful meaning to penitence that flagellants believe is a way of cleansing themselvesof sins or a yearly pledge in return to a blessing in their families.

Last year, along with some Dutch friends, I was also able to witness the crucifixion in Cutud, San Fernando Pampanga. Avoiding the hassle of lining up in the bus with the risk of not gettinga ride, we decided to rent a cab that will take us there and back to Manila. The one we commissioned the day before didn’t show up at the 8.30am agreed time and with my tourists who are very strict with time, we just hail the next one that is willing.

We arrived at San Pedro Cutud, a quarter before 1pm of Good Friday while the sun is at its hottest and all of us are sweltering under its might. We were able to catch the procession passing on the Via Cruses on the way to “Golgotha” the designated places where the actual crucifixion will take place. Following the Jesus Christ who was carrying His cross were prayer brigades and flagellants whipping their bloody backs with bamboo whips. Getting too close to the penitents can actually get you splattered with blood so we stayed behind the crowd of kids, locals and tourists witnessing theprocession. We couldn’t engorge ourselves with such an extreme display of sacrifices so we immediately tried to find a shorter way of getting to the Golgotha before the procession.

On a nearby barangay, there’s already some crucifixion going on obviously intended for tourists. The participants lined up in a hill will have themselves crucified for at least 3 minutes, enough for photographers and cameramen to get a good angle. Afterwards, they will run to the nearby medical tent where medical volunteers treat the wounds with alcohol and Betadine.

When we get to the main crucifixion site, the Golgotha, there was a large stage specifically set up for the event and another cordoned stage for photographers. There were hundreds of spectators littered around the dusty area and being bare of trees of any tents where one can shield himself from the scorching heat of the sun, we were forced to hide under the branches of small mango trees in somebody’s garden. The heat also bothers other tourists but they choose to stay under the sun while some seeks refuge in food and souvenir stalls, squeezing themselves among other tourists.

A collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout the crowd when the show finally starts. In between prayers before the crucifixion, the organizer would plead that the crowd would remain silent, organized and don’t get too close to the stage.

Aside from the three persons who will be crucified, there were also flagellants kneeling or lying onstage, taking turns while the prayer is on going. Every heat of the hammer will bring the crowd into collective cries that slowly decrease as the set of “Cristo’s” and “ thieves” increases. There were some who didn’t show any emotion while the nail is being buried in their flesh and skin while others cry in pain and begs to be brought down the cross immediately.

There were 18 people scheduled to be crucified that day but we didn’t stay until the last one otherwise we will all melt with the heat. The crowd is very thick as well and unless you came there very early or you’re in the media podium, where luckily we are, you would hardly get a glimpse of the on-going crucifixion.

I was a bit saddened that what is supposed to be very sacred rituals, which started in the 1950’s, turned out to be a sort of religious circus for tourists. I am sure that most, if not all of the penitents are doing these acts for their personal conviction to God but the overwhelming number of tourists in the area overshadows their real intent.

Even if time had change the way we look at Holy Week, Filipinos will always stay with their strong belief in religion. Let us not forget to spend even a day of our vacation to reflect on our lives and become better persons. After all Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we can a new life.