HOLY WEEK THEN AND NOW

HOLY WEEK
When I was a child, which happened a good three scores and many years ago, the observance of Holy week was a highly moving experience. We were expected to practice holiness in thought, in word and in deed. The execution of fasting and abstinence was strictly implemented during the period of Lent specifically on Fridays.

We were not allowed to play noisy games or tell dirty jokes. Radio stations played only inspirational and prayerful tunes. We were taught to practice how to sacrifice and do more acts of mercy.

Beginning Ash Wednesday, chant reading of the Passion of Christ was done in most household. The solemnity of the atmosphere was felt anywhere you go. During Palm Sunday we brought to Church our elaborately decorated palms for blessing. After the Mass we brought out the eggs which were supposed to be “strong” with their hard shells, and then we looked for an opponent in a game called “tuktuk”. It was simply a direct hitting of each other’s egg. The egg that cracked was given to the winner. The one who gathered the most number of eggs turned very popular among his peers.

The station of the cross was done only inside the Church in front of the 14 stations framed around the wall. At ten o’clock in the morning of Holy Wednesday, some children were gathered inside the Church to catch the “kampanero” who ran around until caught. This was supposed to be a dramatic symbolism of the apprehension of Jesus from the Garden of Gethsemane after He was betrayed by t he traitor, Judas Iscariot.

During the procession on Holy Wednesday, the statue of St .Peter who was at the very front got lost then found at the middle of the procession. After a while he got lost again and later found following at the very end of the line. Before the end of the procession St. Peter was again lost, brought home to appear Sunday morning at the Galilee. This was done to symbolically emphasize the three times that he denied Jesus.

After the ritual on Holy Thursday, the Holy Eucharist was displayed the whole night and until the Good Friday ritual, while also presenting the “Siete Palabras” in different manners. On the dawn of “Sabado de Gloria”, the resurrection of Jesus was announced by the pealing of the Church’s bells. We then start jumping and shouting and enjoying the “Pagkabuhay”.

The “Salubong “was the reenactment of the meeting of Jesus and Mary at Galilee after the resurrection. It was Easter Sunday, supposedly the most important aspect of the life of Jesus Christ.

As years passed-by, many changes happened not only to the observance of the Holy week but mostly to the people themselves. This time we doubt and were uneasy to call the week Holy. Holiness was now hardly felt in the air as the celebration was now just a vacation when families can enjoy by observing their own version and interpretation of the occasion. Jesus was somehow lost. So, let us all proclaim the mystery of our salvation: “Christ have died, Christ have risen, Christ will come again at the end of time”.