The Filipinos’ Holy Week

LENT is an important holiday for Filipinos. Ideally it is observed with personal sacrifice and selfdenial that culminate in the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. It is thus also a joyous time for Christians as it symbolizes rebirth or renewal.

Lent comes from the Anglo Saxon word “lencten,” which means “spring.” In some temperate zone countries, the timing of Lent is perfect because of the changing of seasons from the freezing winter to the thaw brought on by the spring season.

In the United States, editorialists speculate that calendars should be amended to make Easter the start of the year. The warming temperatures bring forth new growth in the vegetation from the just concluded harshness of winter. That feels more like the beginning of a new year.

Human beings and denizens of the animal kingdom alike awaken from their inactivity imposed by winter. Suddenly, the world is alive again with activity from people, animals, and plants. Flora and fauna come alive to welcome the rejuvenating rays of the sun and the hospitable warmth of rising temperatures.

In the Philippines, Christians exult in the Risen Christ, revived by the significance and meaning of resurrection. We put a lot of stock in the symbolism of rebirth and renewal. The weather, though, changes from the relative coolness of the winds from the northeast to the increasing oppressiveness of tropical summers.

For Filipino Christians, Easter is like another Christmas. While Christmas in December celebrates the birth of Christ, Easter in April comes as a resurrections or rebirth. Christ has risen from the dead.

But the week before Easter Sunday – Holy Week – is many things for Filipinos.

It’s supposed to be a solemn time, and many Filipinos do observe it as such. It’s a time for prayers, observance of silence, and relative inactivity. It’s when many Filipinos refrain from indulgent activity, conspicuous celebration, or ostentatious display of spending and wealth.

At least it used to be that way. Older people, especially in the provinces, remember that it used to be like that. Children were forbidden to listen to the radio, sing, or play music. Horseplay among youngsters was not allowed. Members of the household speak in hushed tones. And, of course, most people involved themselves in the rituals of Lent: Novenas, readings of the Seven Last Words of Christ, and other rites.

Holy Week was an experience enjoyed by the youth in the towns and barrios (as current-day barangays were then called) around the country. Groups of friends went around town to visit what were called “kubols” where the Seven Last Words were read in song as the hosts served steaming hot coffee and native pastries.

But today, with more and more diversions available to people and the mobility offered by varied modes of transport, greater numbers of Filipinos are able to indulge in other types of celebratory activities. The beach beckons, tourism is another choice, and parties of all kinds abound. Somehow the solemnity and meaning of Holy Week has been diluted by the temptation of more joyful diversions.

In other countries celebrations of Holy Week are different from ours because of the diversity of religions around the world. For that reason the kind of devotion and religiosity practiced by Filipinos is different and more solemn.

At least in the past. Modern conveniences and attractions have taken away much of the solemnity of Holy Week. Prohibitions of the past, like singing and unruly behavior, are no longer observed.

People troop to the malls and beaches and ignore the Church’s rules of celebration as well as parental proscriptions of loud activity. Modernity has erased the solemn character of Lent, especially among the youth and the well-to-do.

Only the older ones among us remember what Lent was like in the past.

Happy Easter Monday to everyone!