Things I Miss During Holy Week

April 15, 2022 (Friday)

When I was young, celebrating Holy Week was very meaningful to me. I was always excited when it is approaching for it signifies vacation from school and we will enjoy the summer season. My family are Catholic and we have many superstitious beliefs during Holy Week. We always have some rituals that we're following because if not we will have good scold by our parents.

When Holy Monday came, we were no longer allowed to play outside our house until Black Saturday. We will just be inside our house and will attend a prayer every 6 pm. Actually, we always have 6 pm prayers before. We can still do household works until Holy Wednesday but after that, when Maundy Thursday came, we can no longer clean our yard or even take a bath. We can no longer wash our clothes. We were not allowed to go to the forest or swim in the sea for they told us that animals during this time are very dangerous and venomous.

Every Good Friday, we always watch the movie The Passion of the Christ. Before, we were the only one who had a television in the neighborhood. Thus, all our neighbors will gather at our house and watch the movie. Some children fell asleep for they got bored watching the movie. I guess they can't still understand what was the movie all about. I can still vividly remember that when 3 pm strikes, there were an earthquake occurred and the oldies would say that Jesus already died in the cross. I don't know if some of you experienced that. After that, we shared the most customary food during Holy week which we called"landang" or "binignit". Binignit is traditionally serve during Good Friday. It is a dish made with glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk with various slices of sabá bananas, taro, and sweet potato, among other ingredients. Oh, I am craving this right now but sad to say I have no knowledge on how to cook this. It was my mother who used to cook this dish for us.

Late this afternoon, I witnessed the street procession here in my partner's place. Upon watching, I couldn't help but to reminisce those days when I was so active in participating in that kind of event. I remember before, every Good Friday, I love watching the Senakulo conducted by our neighbor barangay. They started the reenactment at our barangay up to our town. I was always amazed by that event because of their outfits that was depicted from Jews and the person who acted as Jesus. Sometimes, the person who acted as Jesus and carried the cross will let himself be crucified. I think that is their vow.

When I was in Manila working as a housemaid, I experienced the so called Visita Iglesia. The Seven Churches Visitation is a Christian, especially Roman Catholic, Lenten tradition to visit seven churches on the evening of Maundy Thursday. There was one church that we visited the we experienced to carry a cross. That was my first time carrying a cross and I can say that it was not easy for it was so heavy. Nonetheless, it was a great experience for me.

Celebrating Holy Week then and now is way different. The traditions and the beliefs are slowly evanesced as time passes by. My parents taught us that this time is the time for us to repent our sins yet I can see many people enjoying at the beach and even partying.

It is off to my topic but let me share this photo to you. I captured this earlier today when we had a scroll with my daughter. I am just mesmerized by the view. After so many days of rain, we can finally see the magnificent color of the sky.

That's it for today lasses. Thank you so much for sparing your time reading this write up of mine. Have a blessed Good Friday everyone.

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Photo above is originally captured by me.

Lead image is edited using Canva app.