Holy Week in the Philippines

Holy Week or Mahal na Araw in the Philippines includes numerous traditional events. This is the country where Roman Catholics make 81% of population. 5% of Filipinos belong to Protestant churches. 4% of population belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Iglesia Ni Cristo, Philippine Independent Church, Seventh Day Adventist, United Church of Christ and other Christian communities. Christianity of the country was in many ways influenced by the Spaniards who ruled the country for more than 300 years.

Palm Sunday in the Philippines

Palm Sunday is the start of Holy Week. On this day Christians remember the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his Passion. People bring palm leaves to church where they are blessed by the priest. Some people decorate the leaves. People keep these blessed leaves in their homes.

One of traditions of the Holy Week in the Philippines is reading of religious texts or „pabasa“. The pabasa usually starts after the mass on Palm Sunday. But it is also organized on other days of the Holy Week.

The book of the passion of Christ is chanted in many different ways. The organizer of the "pabasa" prepares two books for the readers. One group of readers reads (chants) one verse and the other group of readers reads (chants) the next verse.

Pabasa can last all the day and all night. In some places the best reader at pabasa gets a small prize. Next to the chapel people make a tent or „kubol“ where the organizers serve food and drink for readers and other people present at pabasa.

Most pabasas are public one, organized for the whole community. There are also so called private pabasas. They are organized by some families in their home. They invite relatives or friends to join them.

"Pabasa" usually ends on or before Good Friday. Then "Siete Palabras" or the Seven Last Words of Jesus before he died on the cross are read. Everything is broadcasted on national tv.

Many Palm Sunday processions are organized in different part of the Philippines.

Malolos City (in Filipino - Lungsod ng Malolos), is the capital of Bulacan province. It has a population of 223,069 (2007). The city is located about 40 km north of Manila.

Malolos City

The city name comes from Tagalog word „paluslos“ which means „downwards“. The name of city is actually result of misunderstanding. Spanish missionaries asked the locals what's the name of the place. They did not understand Spanish. So, they just said that the flow of the river in that part was downstream or "paluslos". Spanish missionaries than heard it wrong and remembered it as "Malolos" or "Malulos".

The Barasoain Church in City of Malolos

In part of the city called Santa Isabel there is a famous Palm Sunday procession. In the procession there is an image of the Humenta or Christ on a donkey. Local women spread their traditional aprons or „tapis“ as the priest walks by.

Gasan is a town of 29,799 (2000) people in the Marinduque province. The province is actually an island located about 18 km of the biggest Filipino island of Luzon. In the local procession the priest himself rides a pony on the way to church.

Marinduque province

The same as all other parts of Holy week, the Holy Wednesday in the Philippines is known for its processions. The most famous processions on that day are those towns of Pakil, Majayjay and Paete. These towns are located in the Laguna province on the island of Luzon. Language used during processions is the ancient Tagalog.