The Holy week in the Phillipines

                                                      The Holy Week in The Phillipines

       Sitting down in my cubicle, I was watching some videos during the Holy week  when I came across this video of the Holy week that was taking place in the Philippines. I found it quite fascinating , as normally in my country the holy week starts with the Mass services and the Church rituals, but out here in the Philippines there was much more.

      Much more devotion, would be the right thing to say , is what happens in the Philippines where they have an amazing form of devotion to Jesus and to Mother Mary. During the Holy week, there are many things that you will see in the Philippines, where the devotion is practical and you can see the life events of Christ taking place in front on you.
 
    As you walk through the cities in Philippines, you will see the falagellants or the Penitents – where the Philippines. These are people who have these bundle of knives that they lash on their backs, and their backs are red due to blood flowing from them. They do this on the Good Friday as a  reparation for the good that Jesus had done for us by taking over our sins.

   You may argue that this is done even in Europe and that there are penitents all over Europe, who come as hooded penitents. The penitents of the Phillippines practice a similar ritual, but it has more blood to it. And while the Hoy week goes on, they have a real life way of the cross ( also called the Via Dolorosa) wherein you see the enactment of the Passion of the Cross, and you see the entire story from the time Christ was condemned to the scourging and the carrying of the cross to Calvary.

     There are also men who are willing to suffer like Christ, and are ready to go through all the suffering that Christ went through. So you see the people going on the road being hit by the Roma solidiers , and carrying the cross in the heat of the sun with an actual crown of thorns being put on their head, and while the crucification is taking place,  there are nails being hammered into their hand and legs, and it is an exact moment of the past that is brought back to life, where there are three crosses standing with three crucified men on the cross, of which one was completely innocent.


Phillippines also has the grand procession of Jesus and the various stages of the Passion and also the devotion to their local saints. There are huge floats created  and paraded throughout the city. Below are some of the images I have shown



Image Courtesy and Research: Hans Athaide

In the above images, you see that the  pictures of Jesus carrying the cross and also the pictures of Longinus who pierced the side of Jesus and from the side of Jesus came blood and water and healed an eye affliction that he had. He was a covert to the Roman Catholic faith and was even bribed to lie about the events , but he stood his ground.

The Holy weekend ends with Easter which celebrates the ressurrection and the rising from the dead of Christ , when nothing was found after the tombstone was rolled over. It is considered a time for celebration and is considered to be as important as Christmas because it is the fulfillment of the role that the Son of God had come to fulfill on  Earth. It is a festivity for Christians in Phillippines as well all over the world., and is marked with sweets and the Easter Bunny, and catching up with friends and relatives.

check my T-shirt art at

https://artworksspace.com/?page_id=32

can also check my poster work at 

https://artworksspace.com/?page_id=26



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Bullfight

                                                                     In the days of youth, I went to libraries and would read  up on many topics. During one of these rounds to the library, I came across the sport of bullfighting. And while reading up on bullfighting , I came across the legendary role that is played in this game - the Bullfighter, as I call him. He is called the Matador , and he is the lead actor of the sports theatre, and he battle with his arch rival , the bovine macho madness, the bull. I enquired about this sports with family and friends. family did'nt know much, but my parish preist at the time told me it was a battle tha...
Read more

The pain of a father

          The pain of a Father Every day brings a worry, and a worry or two always there is always around.People in their life get used to worries, as they are  kind of a routine in the day. But then there comes a time in life when we are hit by something more than a worry, something that is a higher level of pain – a tragedy. An accident or the death of a loved one, which is like a truck ramming us on the road. Death comes to take all of us. It is a part of life, being the end cycle . Death comes at any time, like a thief stealing your soul in the night. All this information is read in books. But the world of books is not life, though is based on the experiences of life. In reality, a man and a woman marry and bear children. They rear their children to grow and then have children of their own,giving the parents the blessing of grandchildren. However, destiny is not so kind ksometimes. As on a sudden rainy day, there is a phone call, a dreaded one in w...
Read more

Venice - the Fruit of determination

Everybody knows Venice, Everybody I Know loves it and to those who do not know Venice- let me tell you that it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.The cathedral of St. Mark to the city with its beautiful architecture and its waterways where people go rowing in the canals, to its traditions and the beautiful culture of  music and fashion, are things that are appreciated and form part of a culturally enhanced society,beautiful and in all its splendour.               But that is something that we all know- Venice excesl in the business of tourism as it excelled in the 16th century as a port for international maritime trade, being a worldwide name than as it is now. Many people see the beauty, the glamour and the splendid architecture of the city. However, I know many writerts have written about Venice and will continue doing so, because it's just so beautiful. However, I want to focus on the perils t...
Read more