Recuerdos de Tronos de Semana Santa: Thinking of The Good Friday Procession

By this time last year, the local Catholic parishes were busy preparing for the annual lenten procession of the carrozas de la Semana Santa - the story of Christ's Passion and the saints who were part of it.

A few days before that, hundreds of intricately designed palm fronds held by the parishioners were blessed at the Palm Sunday mass and days after, our parish priest washed the feet of the 12 Apostles.

The preparation of the carrozas starts weeks before but this time, in 2020, it's a different kind of Lent.

All Lenten activities this year have all been cancelled.

This Holy Week, no carrozas would be decorated, no 'santos' will be clothed, no flowers would be arranged, and no religious procession would journey through the streets of sin and sinners.

The salawikain (proverb), "Kahaba-haba man ng prusisyon, sa simbahan din ang tuloy", will not be literally proven again. At least, not this year. It means 'no matter how long is the procession, it would still end up at the church'.

And since there will be no procession of the pasos, I am sharing these images from last year's Good Friday when no one expected that, just 12 months after, He would bring upon the world, not fire and brimstones that would kill from without, but a punishment that would kill from within.

In the past, most houses would light candles by their front doors to illuminate the path of the thousands of  people joining the procession. And without those lighted candles, we all seem lost and can not find our way in the dark.

The streets are quiet, the paths dark, and the churches empty.

But our faith remains strong.🙏

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La Cuaresma De Cuarentena: A Quarantined Lent

The corona virus picked the perfect time of the year to punish us all: Lent. 

These days, Lent really feels like how it was during the Holy Week of the past when no one blared their radios and music players, television shows were all about biblical stories, most fasted and abstained from eating meat, and everyone stayed home.

Before, it was bad luck when people went to the beach or traveled during the Holy Week. Drowning incidents about revelers who went to rivers or beaches to frolic were attributed to the 'mari-it' atmosphere. 

'Mari-it' is a Hiligaynon word that means haunted because it is believed that engkantos are out and about during the Holy Week, and those who didn't care about staying put had it coming, so to speak. 

But this time, as the government ordered an enhanced community quarantine, no one freely roams the streets except to get food, no one travels to other places in the island except to deliver food, and sadly for most, no one can party due to social distance rules. Worse, no one can get married at the church and no requiem mass can be said for the dead. This virus literally can hold off a couple's public display of affection as well as postpone a departed's trip to heaven.

Fisherfolk though can still go out to the sea to fish but probably have to sell them at cheaper prices since they could not freely bring them to the public markets. But their kids, I'm sure, are having a good time swimming close by. I envy them. 😄

And also the farmers - they are still able to cultivate their backyard farms and harvest any fruit or vegetable they need. And their kids can play in the gardens under the sun. I envy them, too. 😜

But for us here in the urban settlements, we need to stay home. It's for the best. 

We restrict our movements; we restrict the virus from moving around.  Nobody knows if one is a carrier because he or she looks healthy, until he or she gets sick or gets tested. 

We all stay home but still share extra food with those who we think need it more. 

But let's not forget: we don't let politicians exploit the situation.

Call them out for passing the donated goods as their own. 

Call them out for not being transparent, for overpricing goods for donation, for keeping the choice donations for their own use, for using the crisis as a publicity to further their political agenda, and most important, for not making sure the rice and perishable goods paid for by taxpayers' money and distributed to the people are actually fit for human consumption.

In short, call them out for being dishonest and inconsiderate human beings in this time of crisis and especially in this time of Lent - the only time during the year when we re all reminded that...

Someone shared His life, bread and wine with others.

Someone preferred to wash the dusty, dirty feet of his followers than they washed His.

Someone preferred to be sold like a piece of commodity for 30 pieces of silver and even forgave such betrayal.

And Someone was crucified so that others would be redeemed. 😭

Quarantined or not, it is still Lent. 🙏

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Now, help this little boy find his mother and tell him to stay home.😍

Carrozzas de La Semana Santa: The Most Attended and The Most Popular is a Procession of Faith and Style

Catholicism is the most significant contribution by the Spanish colonizers to the Philippines, although I'd put jamón and Spanish pastries up there, alongside saints and angels. And the religious procession of Jesus, Mary, and the saints who were part of His Passion during Semana Santa or Holy Week is the most colorful display of style, art, and creativity in the whole Catholic calendar. This is also the most attended and the most popular of all religious parades. This Lenten procession has colorful floats that make your Christmas trees look like grade school art projects.

(The Agony in the Garden carro in 
2011 was decorated with white picket fences. 
What's missing is a rocking chair.)

 (The Good Friday crowd gathers for the procession)

That's why when I was a kid, I had fun memories of helping prepare the Agony in the Garden carro, short for 'carrozza' (the Spanish word for carriage), here in my hometown of Victorias City in the Philippines, (they're also called pasos in other parts of the Philippines) during the Holy Week when school was out and the summer heat was in. 

Back then, there were just a handful of carros participating in the procession that was held on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Currently, the procession in only held on Good Friday and involves more than a dozen carros.

(Agony in the Garden) 

(Jesus Cautivo)

(Scourging at the Pillar)

While most of the carros during the procession in our hometown in Victorias City was obviously made during the last decade or two, the Agony in the Garden, owned by the Montinola family of Victorias, dates back to the 1950s, after World War II. 

Commissioned by Don Felix Montinola and his wife, Doña Dorothea, from artisans and craftsmen in the Iloilo Province, the sculpted image is that of a kneeling Jesus looking up to a winged angel holding a chalice that seems to be bringing Him the prophecy of his impending suffering and death on the cross; it is made of heavy wood that was cured and had not shrunk or deteriorated all these years. (Wood from santol, I learned, is not a good material for statues because the wood shrinks over time, although the santol fruit itself is a delight to eat!😍).

 (Above: Inday Lydia Quiatchon with the Montinola Family's Agony in the Garden carro that she decorated for the annual Lenten procession)

The Agony in the Garden depicts Christ kneeling with His face expressing sadness and anguish as He prayed on the eve of His Crucifixion in a garden which was located at the foot of Mount Olives in Jerusalem, where water has always been a problem as it is in a desert region, next to the Judaean Desert. 

Olive trees naturally survive in arid conditions and the ones at Gethsemane have been tested to be the oldest olive trees in the world with some aging as 900 years old. Those trees have witnessed more biblical events than any living organism on Earth.

(Jesus de la Paciencia)

(St. Peter's carroza was the most creative. His 

golden robes paired with emerald green was 

a color combination that was attractive to the eyes. 

A 'palm tree' made the carro a standout as 

this added a tropical Philippine flavor) 

(Gold and emerald green with devotees 

in matching gold shirts. The faithful are tasteful.😉)

If you look closely at Christ's statue on the Agony in the Garden while ignoring His red cape and white vest with glittery sequins, you'd see a face in a state of surrender and sadness. 

For me, the expression on His face summarizes His suffering; the Five Sorrowful Mysteries are right there on the Lord's face. 😢

(The Carrying of the Cross)

 (The Crucified Christ)

The late Inday Lydia Ledesma-Quiatchon, who was tasked by the late Doña Luz Montinola with the annual responsibility to oversee the preparation and decoration of the Agony in the Garden when she was still alive and able, once exclaimed upon gazing at Christ's face, "Katahum guid sang nawong sang aton Gino-o. (The face of our Lord is so beautiful)."

The decorations of the carros decades ago were only plastic flowers as there were no vendors who could supply huge quantities of flowers required by the local owners of carros in Bacolod City then.

 (Red anthuriums on the Agony in the Garden carro)

(Putting the angel's wings)

During the parade when darkness falls and the lights are turned on, there's a spotlight that directly illuminates His face, and amidst the weariness of walking, any faithful could still draw strength and inspiration upon gazing at this apparition.

(A spotlight illuminates Christ's face)

If you're wondering why the saints' faces look very European with high noses and chiseled bone structure, it's because when the Spanish friars and religious men came to the Philippines, they brought with them icons and statues whose faces were patterned after Spanish and European features. And when the Philippine craftsmen and artisans learned how to carve intricate statues, that's what they have been told to copy ever since.

 (Father Rafa and Father Vince greet and 

bless the passing carros)

(La Pieta)

(San Juan Evangelista)

That's why it's no wonder that many of the faithful are in awe of these images and statues being paraded during Good Friday. 

And as these are blessed by the priests, they are considered sacred with some people even grabbing them from the carros after the procession to keep them as 'pangalap' or items they'd use for their livelihood like a piece of the saint's vest fishermen brought to the sea with the belief that these would bring in a bountiful catch. Yes, there were times people would bring scissors to cut off the statue's clothing, although the most common practice now is just to grab the flowers that adorned the carros.

(Santo Entierro or Holy Burial) 

(Saint Veronica whose statue for me was the most elegant and dramatic of all. Sadly, this statue was lost in a fire in 2018.)

(Virgen Dolorosa)

Aside from the 'pangalap' tradition, people bring white cloths or handkerchieves to wipe the saint's faces or raise their children up to the carros so that they could kiss the saints.

(Santa Marta)

(Saint Mary Magdalene) 

(Parish altar boys lead the procession)

Although this is not a competition but a profession of our faith, we subconsciously (or maybe not!) compare the floats as to their decorations, the saints' glittery vestments, the size of the carriage, and the flowers that adorn the carro as if the whole thing was a beauty pageant. 

I know this as kid with a direct hand in decorating a carro (well, it was just handing thumb tacks to whoever was putting on the silky purple skirt around the carriage or handing flowers to whoever was decorating), I used to compare, too, even boasting then that the Agony in the Garden was the only one with accompanying music. 

Weeks before the procession, my mom would go to a music shop in Bacolod City to have religious music copied into a cassette tape. That's why days before Good Friday, you'd already hear Mario Lanza singing at home The Lord's Prayer before he even belted the same songs for two hours all over town on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

(Mary Magdalene)

(People raise their white cloths to

 wipe the saint's face)

(A child is raised to kiss the saint)

And on this Holy Week, as we Catholics ponder on Christ's passion, most of us will probably be attending the procession to have more photos for Instagram and Facebook but I hope we'll all remember that the procession is a profession of our faith and not a parade of style and creativity.🙏