The ‘Semana Santa’ of old
MAYBE it is just a nostalgic feeling, but my take is that Filipinos of yesteryears observed “Semana Santa” more fervently than they do today.
Yes, there are now changes that the Catholic Church has lined up for liturgical observation of the faithful. But our faith in the solemnity of the rites as followed by the teachings of the Church in the olden days could only be best described as similar to being present witnessing the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
No, it does not make us, “oldtimers,” more religious than worshippers and devotees of the Lenten Rites of the present crop of Filipinos these days.
Although, in our days, there was that feeling of a one-on-one talk with the Savior, as young people obedient to the teachings of the Church.
As manifested today, the elderly sector of the faithful cannot help but regard themselves as more pious than the young Filipinos are these days.
Take the case of our observance of Good Friday in our hometown of Calbayog in Samar. I remember, that as a young boy growing up there, most families followed to the letter the tenets observed as tradition and taught as Biblical do’s and don’t’s.
At the onset of the Lenten season, in the recitation of the nightly mysteries of the Holy Rosary, there was added the daily Novena prayers of the Biblical stories from Palm Sunday to vigil prayers of the Black Saturday.
Silence among members of the family ushered in Holy Monday. a noiseless lull reigned in the household and loud conversation was taboo.
The “marshal” of the house was my paternal grandmother. She saw to it that her rigorous rules were followed to the letter. Her dictum cancelled the fact that she was halfFilipino and half-Chinese.
A faint sound of boisterous laughter was enough to bring her to where the “noise” originated. Then her discourse came in a staccato of admonition to the violator.
Singing songs other than those prescribed during. Mass and other liturgical services was a no-no.
My father’s old violin and my Cebu-made ukulele were wrapped In lavender cloth and left hanging on the wall of the family room in the sala. Along with these sullen sights was our bulky Monark four-tube radio wrapped in the same old cloth.
Attendance in the exposition and veneration of the Blessed Sacrament early evening of Maundy Thursday was a must. Here three decades or 15 mysteries of the Holy Rosary were recited with all the family members in attendance. This could last for one hour.
On Good Friday, it was mandatory for us to listen to the interpretation of the Seven Last Words inside the Calbayog Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, starting at 1 o’clock to 4 o’ clock in the afternoon, all this in the thick of summer!
That, and participating in the almost five-kilometer “Santo Entierro” procession around town were a mustdo penitence.
Fasting and abstinence were strictly observed. Breakfast consisting of one small bowl of “tsamporado”or two small pieces of “pan de sal.” Lunch and supper were allowed but the servings were noticeably diminutive. Lunch was one piece of small “tinolang hasa-hasa” for each member of the family. The viand for supper was typically a three-inch slice of dried “barul” fish called “kalapi-on” and a dash of hot “chocolate tableabateador” in a minute Ming Dynastyporcelain cup to wash down the salty dried fish.
“Adobo” or beef “sinigang” were reserved for the Eastern Sunday lunch.