Holy Week in the Philippines - for Photographers

Holy week in the Philippines is one of a kind. This is according to few Americans friends from the military base in Angeles, Philippines, who keep telling me about chartered jeepneys that go around the city on the Holy week, just perfect to bring cameras and video recording equipment for the rituals going in almost every corner.

Holy Week in the Philippines culminates with all the solemn observance of Christian and pagan rituals. The practice is nationwide and has varying undertones of religious significance that is both moving and touching in its entirety. There are countless "Cenaculos" and "Pabasas" reciting and reenacting the passion and death of Jesus Christ in traditionally written verse form and dramatized version of the original sacrifice two thousand years ago.

Being the only Catholic nation in Asia, Filipinos take the celebration of Holy Week from the heart. The Good Friday event even attracted photographers from international wire agencies and an independent electronic news gathering team. Fanatic youths cover faces and crowns of thorns, marched bare-chested on either side of the road, that curious drivers would pull over to let them pass and witness, for themselves the self-inflicted cuts on the backs serve as a personal sacrifice.

This man to be crucified, like Jesus, carried his cross behind two Roman soldiers on horseback.

Procession with other centurians in red gowns and shiny headgear, marched alongside to keep the crowds away. Jesus knelt down with his cross, while Mary and two other girls ran up to him, wept at his feet, and begged his captors to free him. This is a sight that you would see in most places in the Philippines on the Holy Week.

Photographers speckled with blood, from trying to get close-ups ofthe flagellants' who scourge themselves in a somewhat paganistic manner considered medieval by many. This is done by stripping themselves naked from the waist up, walking barefooted under a midday sun and flagging themselves bloody with ropes and broken pieces of glass attached with strings to bamboo sticks. They do this as a means of atonement of their sins. It is a sort of retribution of their offenses and human weaknesses for past favor such as after going through some crisis or danger in their lives. This is commonly practiced in the provinces of Pampanga, Tarlac, Rizal and practically all over the Tagalog region.

In contemporary times, these Philippine traditions may slowly be disappearing as some young Filipinos already prefer the modern-style of commemoration by using the Holy Week to vacation at the beach. I hope more young Filipinos would still put value to this real meaning of Holy Week.
I salute this Filipino tradition of a Christ-felt Holy Week. Truly one of a kind, truly from the heart.

Thanks to the following:

• TravelNotes.org (The Online Guide to Travel
• News Today