Holy Week in the Philippines. The most important celebrations
Filipinos have strong religious traditions and Holy Week (or Semana Santa) is a significant and solemn occasion for them. It is a time for reflection and penance in remembrance of Christ’s passion, suffering and death. This solemn week lasts from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Holy Week in the Philippines is usually spent with families. Most people go home to their provinces to spend this time with their families. Thus, it is a great opportunity to strengthen family bonds and create memories.
In this post we will guide you through the traditions you can observe during the solemn week in the country. One of the highlights is Fasting that takes place during Semana Santa. Filipinos usually try to avoid meat (replacing it with seafood or vegetables), but also excessive leisure and pleasure activities. The magnitude of celebrations and their details might differ between regions, yet the main principles remain more or less the same.
Palm Sunday
The Holy Week starts with Palm Sunday, which is familiar to some countries as well. On that day, Filipinos come to churches with plain or ornate fronds. It is to re-enact welcoming Jesus upon arrival in Gethsemane with waving palm leaves. The fronds the people brought are then blessed during the Mass and taken back home. Subsequently, people place it on home altars, doors, windows to protect themselves against evil spirits.
Senakulo
It is a dramatic reenactment of the Passion of Christ. Most specifically it portrays Jesus’s suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection. Senakulo is often performed in various communities during Holy Week. It involves actors portraying biblical characters and is staged either in churchyards, town plazas, or designated locations during Maundy Thursday as a reminder of Jesus’ sacrifices. Before, it was performed for the whole Holy Week.
Nowadays, it is shortened a lot, to make it a spectacle. It is especially practiced in Bulacan, Rizal and Pampanga provinces. The latter holds the most famous, vivid and violent, performance of the last moments of Jesus Christ. It takes place in a village San Pedro Cutud, in San Fernando City, Pampanga and is not supported by the Church, yet became popular as a tourist attraction.
A brutal reenactment of the crucifixion (fot istolethetv)
Pabasa ng Pasyon
It is a poetic narration of Christ’s passion and death. It starts on Palm Sunday, after the mass, and finishes on Maundy Thursday. The whole Pabasa session lasts for several hours. During that time devotees take turns chanting the verses in the book of the passion of Christ in front of a makeshift altar in front of the church. It serves as a means of expressing devotion to Christ and asking forgiveness for sins. It is believed that the tradition has originated from the Philippines and Pabasa was first published in 1704 by a Filipino poet – Gaspar Aquino de Belen.
Visita Iglesia
On Maundy Thursday, Filipinos often visit multiple churches for the Visita Iglesia tradition. They go to seven churches to pray, reflecting on the Stations of the Cross. The seven is associated with Holy Wounds of Jesus or Last Words of His. It is common for families and friends to go on this pilgrimage together. Some even go to 14 churches to match it to 14 stations of the Cross. The prayers are believed to have higher chances to be heard if one visits all the 7/14 churches.
Vigil and Stations of the Cross
On Good Friday evening, churches hold a solemn vigil, where the believers gather for prayers, reflections, and the Stations of the Cross. This devotion involves meditating on the fourteen stations representing Jesus’ journey to Calvary. In some parts of the Philippines, men even go much further… to crucify themselves!
As we mentioned before, the support of these activities by the church is low. The first crucifixion took place in 1962. It is a real spectacle with nailing someone on the cross for a few minutes. Since then the event has grown in size and attracts many spectators. Interestingly, the record of one man was… to be crucified 33 times! Pampanga is the place most famous for these practices.
Moriones Festival
It is a Lenten festival celebrated annually in the islands of Marinduque wherein the highlight of the festival is the Via Crucis, a re-enactment of the last moments of Jesus on his way to Golgotha where he was crucified. The actors wear colorful costumes and masks with morion helmets, imitating the attire of Roman soldiers in the Passion of Christ.
They are looking for Longinus, who is to be beheaded for his conversion. He was the Roman centurion who did not see with one eye. It was him who pierced Jesus Christ on the Cross to make sure he was dead. However, when the blood splashed on his eye, the sight was restored. It made him convert into the Christianity and spread the news of his miraculous healing.
Salubong
Easter Sunday is the culmination of Holy Week, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. By then, Filipinos attend the “Salubong”. This word means “meeting” in Tagalog. It is a ceremony, where a statue of the resurrected Christ is reunited with an image of the sorrowful Virgin Mary. In fact, these are two different processions – with male following the image of the Christ and females the Virgin Mary. At the end of the procession these two meet, usually around a church. There, a little girl dressed as an angel lifts the veil of the Virgin Marty. It symbolizes their joyous reunion after Jesus’ resurrection.
More important than Christmas
Throughout the whole Holy Week in the Philippines, many processions take place. They are one of the oldest Filipino traditions during Holy Week. Most processions happen during Holy Wednesday and Good Friday to commemorate the passion and death of Christ.
It is worth noting that Holy Week traditions can vary across different regions and communities in the Philippines, but what we have tried to show you are some common practices observed by many. Certainly, the celebration of Holy Week is a significant event for Filipinos as this also showcases their devotions as Christians which has become one of their cultures and traditions. After all, Easter is higher than Christmas in its importance.
For this occasion we wish all the best to our Filipino colleagues and their families for this coming Easter! ????
Author: Monique Hidalgo (USC’s student)
