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The highlight of the Good Friday procession, the bier of the Santo Señor Sepulcro returning to the church from the procession.
This is the third installment of my Semana Santa series where I feature rituals and traditions observed in certain places during this most solemn week in the Catholic calendar. Click on the image at the right to check the rest of the articles.
The heightened religious fervor, the devotion and the age old practices just come together and intertwine to produce one of the spectacular Semana Santa (Holy Week) observance that I have seen. Lucban in Quezon is one of the must go to places to witness such events.
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Lucban’s antique Santo Señor Sepulcro in full regalia for the Holy Week
This is the second installment of Semana Santa series where I feature rituals and traditions observed in certain places during the most solemn week in the Catholic calendar. Click on the image at the right to check the rest of the articles.
Lucban in Quezon is rich in tradition, culture and heritage be it from the annual harvest festival called the Pahiyas, its potent lambanog (coconut vodka), lively people, religious fervor and cool climate being located at the foothills of Mt. Banahaw. During the Holy Week, the town is transformed into one great catholic community where age old ritual observance springs to life.
On the morning of Saturday before Palm Sunday, the Don Juan Rañola bahay na bato ancestral house witnesses again another tradition when his descendants gather to do the annual Pagbibihis (Dressing) of the more than a hundred years old wooden image of the dead Christ fondly called the Santo Señor Sepulcro. It is not generally known how old this icon is but it has a rich and storied past.
First owned (or should it be, taken cared of, since religious images were owned by the church but rich families maintain it) by the family of Don Geronimo Rilles, it was said to be pawned in Quiapo due to debts incurred by his wife who was too fond of jewelry which was the source of their indebtedness. With this loss, the townspeople tried to buy back the image but came up only with P300 from contributions, P400 short. It was the patriarch Don Juan who contributed the lacking amount. From that time on, his family has been the caretaker of the image.
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The old colonial church of Barasoain in Bulacan
This post kicks off my Semana Santa series where I feature rituals and traditions observed in certain places during this most solemn week in the Catholic calendar. Click on the image at the right to check the rest of the articles.
For purposes of travel for the visita iglesia, I have compiled a series of churches primarily found in Central and Southeast Cebu and Bulacan at simbahan.net.
Early morning at Ormoc, the jeep terminal is already alive with commuters.
This is the 8th installment of the Luzon - Visayas - Luzon Loop series. Click the image on the right to check out the rest of the posts.
Ormoc at last! Despite not having made it to the midnight boat for Cebu, I was just glad that I finally reached this city at around 0400H from Tacloban. Its been a year since I’ve last visited this place while I was in transit to Guiuan in Eastern Samar to shoot the church there for the book. But back when I was still based in Cebu, Eastern Visayas was part of my area of responsibility and have constantly been here for work as well as leisure.
Its a small city and the domain of a few rich families who dominate local politics as well as businesses that were offshoots of the sugar industry. It was also here a little more than two decades ago when the tragic Ormoc flood happened and wiped out thousands of its inhabitants. But now, walking through the quiet streets, its a distant memory and no trace can be found of the event unless one visits the memorial near the city center.
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A crowded van (or vhire) from Allen in Northern Samar to Tacloban City in Leyte.
This is the 7th installment of the Luzon - Visayas - Luzon Loop series. Click the image on the right to check out the rest of the posts.
See the photo above? That’s me at the extreme left with only my left ear visible still taking this shot. If you noticed, thank you, the row I’m at is already full while I was given the kiddie seat just beside the sliding door of the van. It was small for my 5′10″ frame. Really. To give me a semblance of comfort and spare me less of a sore butt, they had these wooden stool, around 4 inches in width propped up beside the kiddie seat that is removed whenever the door is opened as it might fall. I was seated there and used my 5 year old North Face jacket as a cushion. For 8 hours.
Now just think of how the Samar road network looks like. From San Isidro near Allen in Northern Samar to Calbiga in Western Samar, around 5 - 6 hours of countless potholes and craters, probably the worst national road system in the country. It might even be called as the National Sunka* Highway. With apologies to this once popular game.
That’s what you get when you don’t buy your tickets earlier than the usual. When you get to decide, come hell or high waters, you need to be in Ormoc City in time for the last boat bound for Cebu at 0000H that night.
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