Prayers, Penance mark Holy Week in the Philippines

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Pasan Kruz

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Good Friday Penitents

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MANDALUYONG CITY, Philippines - Holy Week in the Philippines is marked by prayers and penance. In Mandaluyong, a highly urbanized City at the heart of Metropolitan Manila, several cultural and religious traditions are held all over the City.

As early as Holy Wednesday, the “pabasa” is held by village people in their communities. A “pabasa” is the chanting of the passion and death of Jesus Christ non-stop for 24 hours. Other villages stage a theatrical play called “senakulo” with the passion and death of Christ as its theme.

Maunday Thurday is marked by “visita iglesia” where catholic devotees visit at least 7 churches and make the way of the cross.

On Good Friday penitents inflict pain on themselves as penance for their sins. The “pasan kruz” or the carrying of the cross is another well-known religious practice in the Philippines during Holy Week. In other provinces, some of them even go to the extent of having themselves nailed on the cross. In churches, the seven last words of Jesus Christ on the cross are contemplated upon by the faithful, afterwards a procession is held attended by thousands of devotees.

The traditional first meeting of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Risen Christ is depicted during the “salubong” wherein an angel removes the black veil of the Virgin Mary signifying the end of mourning since Christ has risen is held on the early morning of Easter Sunday.

The Philippines is a dominant catholic country Christianized by Spanish missionaries in the 1500’s.