Semana Santa or Mahal na Araw, Holy Week (the last week of Lent), is one of the most important religious festivals in the Philippines. There are many superstitions regarding this week; for example: many Filipinos believe that wounds inflicted or received on Good Friday take long to heal and that amulets acquired on the said day are especially powerful.
Throughout the week, most businesses in the Philippines either close until Black Saturday or have shorter store hours and, in some instances, local television or radio stations either stay off the air or broadcast more solemn or serious content, especially films and programmes with a religious theme. An example is the airing of the Seven Last Words on Good Friday live from churches on various local channels and films about the life and death of Jesus. During the Easter Triduum, usually a public holiday, some television stations even interrupt broadcast altogether until Black Saturday in observance of this solemn occasion. In the Ilocos region, a common practice is the singing of a wailing song called the Leccio. It is done as a reflection of mourning the death of Christ.
Linggo ng Palaspas
At Mass on Palm Sunday (Linggo ng Palaspas), Catholics carry palm fronds to be blessed by the priest. They are then brought home and placed either above their front doors or windows, in the belief that doing so can ward off evil spirits and avert lightning or placed at the home alter. The usual Gospel reading on Palm Sunday features Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when he was welcomed by people waving palm fronds and laying their cloaks on the ground for his donkey to walk upon.
Like in many churches in the US, the reading of the gospel acted out by a different liturgical minister and the lines that were spoken by Christ is reserved to the priest.
Lunes Santo hanggang Miyerkules Santo
Holy Monday - Holy Wednesday (Lunes Santo hanggang Miyerkules Santo) is the beginning of the Pabasa or the Pasyon, the marathon chanting of the prayer-story of Jesus' life, Passion, and death, which continues day and night.
Huwebes Santo
Maundy Thursday (Huwebes Santo), is the day of the traditional "Church Visit" or "Visita Iglesia", which involves visiting a church or several churches at which the faithful would pray the devotion known as the Stations of the Cross.
In the morning, the faithfuls join thier parish priest in the usual morning mass. This is a very joyful celebration because it is considered by many priests in the country to be the day when they renew their sacerdotal vows. In most cases, banners saying 'WE LOVE YOU FATHER (name of the priest)' is seen outside the cathedral to signify support for their parish priests.
Also celebrated on this day is the last Mass before Easter (commonly called the Mass of the Institution of the Lord's Supper) which usually includs a reenactment of the Washing of the Feet of the Apostles; this Mass is followed by the procession of the Blessed Sacrament before it is taken to the Altar of Repose. TV and Radio networks in the nation have formally either sign-off until Easter Sunday or started restricting broadcasts.
Biyernes Santo
Good Friday (Biyernes Santo), a public holiday in the Philippines, is commemorated with solemn street processions, the Way of the Cross, the commemoration of Jesus' Seven last words and a Passion play called the Senakulo. In some communities (most famously in the province of Pampanga), the processions include devotees who self-flagellate (self-flogging) and sometimes even have themselves nailed to crosses as expressions of penance, a fulfillment of a vow accomplished in thanksgiving, or an exchange for a granted request or prayer.
After three o'clock in the afternoon of Good Friday (the time at which Jesus is traditionally believed to have died), noise is discouraged, bathing is proscribed and the faithful are urged to keep a solemn and prayerful disposition. Towards late afternoon and evening there is the procession of the dead Christ. The figure of the Jesus is taken in solemn procession and borne on a decorated hearse, after which it is venerated by the faithful. Some even give the image the proper funeral rites such as laying the body in state or, in some instances, by smoking the seated corpse of Jesus over a fire in accordance with local, pre-hispanic funerary customs. Such a procession may involve a various number of other saints, and tradition dictates that the last image in the line is the Sorrowful Virgin.
In fact, the great sorrow that is attributed to this day gave rise to the Tagalog idiom Mukha kang Biyernes Santo, which could literally be translated into English as "You look like Good Friday". This means that the person looks so sad that he resembles the sorrows of Jesus Christ on His passion day.
Sabado de Gloria
Black Saturday (Sabado de Gloria), or Holy Saturday, is traditionally observed with silence and solemnity. Preparations are made for the Easter Vigil to be celebrated that evening.
Easter Sunday
Easter morning is a joyous celebration, beginning with the dawn ceremony called the Salubong, where statues of the Resurrected Christ and the Virgin Mary, along with other saints, are brought in procession together to meet, imagining the first reunion of Jesus and his mother Mary after the Resurrection. The statue of the Virgin Mary is veiled in black, showing her state of bereavement. A girl dressed as an angel, positioned on a specially constructed high platform/scaffold or suspended in mid-air, sings the Regina Coeli and then dramatically pulls the veil off of the image, signifying the end of her grieving. This is followed by pealing bells and fireworks, and the joyous Easter Mass.
WikiPilipinas: http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Holy_Week
Scent of Apples is a collection of short stories depicting Filipinos living in America during WWII. It examines the racism these Filipinos faced, the class issues that they negotiated and the attempts to survive in a country away form home.
