SUBSCRIBESemana Santa 07
Holy Week or Semana Santa came early this year with Palm Sunday, ironically, falling on April Fool’s Day. NOthing pranky about it, however, but, just like last year, I was kept busy with my annual Lenten photodocumentary.
Holy Week is significant for Catholics worldwide as it celebrates, the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. Here in the Philippines considered the bastion of Catholicism in Asia, the more than three centuries of Spanish rule and the ritual obsession of Filipinos with death itself has produced unique rituals varying from one region to another that are amalgamations of Christian and pagan/animist practices, the mix of western and the oriental, seamlessly flowing together and thus become uniquely Pinoy. Unfortunately, as times progress, these practices are slowly altered, dying or are now dead as global influences as well as beliefs and mindsets change.
I’ve been doing this for the third year now. The first, way back in 2005, I was in Cebu when, with nothing to do at home, I travelled to the southern part of the province and taking photos of the activities from our parish in Talisay City, to Tabunok, then to Carcar and Sibonga. Nothing focused, prepared or planned.
Last year, I befriended Jason Maceo of Lucban and spent the greater part of Lent in that part of Quezon province with short forays in Pakil and Paete. I was also able to do a few hours of a Senakulo performance here in Makati which I just happened to stumble upon after coming from work. Infanta, Quezon would have been included but when I arrived there on Maundy Thursday for a day trip, I was just too early to catch a glimpse of the flagellants.
This year, I focused on three areas:
- Paete for its Palm Sunday and the most important, the unique pagsusuob, a pre hispanic ritual of the dead wherein the Santo Intierro, an image of the dead Christ undergoes a rite akin to a traditional mummification process as practiced in the Cordilleras.
- the prettily donned flagellants of Infanta, Quezon, and
- three nights of shooting a Senakulo in Makati
During the course of the week, I was thinking of also dropping by Lucban but decided against it later so that I can just focus on these activities in the areas mentioned. While I was able to do substantial work, there are some things that I need to focus more on to have a more complete documentation for this developing body of work.
