Holy week is really a valuable week in many catholic Filipinos, this moment Filipinos are doing more acts of goodness and penance to show to God how grateful are the people for sacrificing his only son Jesus Christ. Holy week in spanish is Semana Santa and Holy week in tagalog is Mahal na Araw. Mahal na Araw because this week is valuable, important and for Jesus Christ. Let us talk about how Manilenyo celebrate Holy week in Manila. When holy week starts catholics in Manila are more visible in churches and they take fasting or they avoid eating meat such as pork and beef. The catholics have this activity which is Visita Iglesia, this means they must visit 14 churches within their area by just simply walking. You can see many Manilenyos and people from other provinces in the streets to visit churches. You will also observe that some Filipinos are doing pasyon, where many group of Filipinos are singing the journey of Jesus Christ. When Good Friday comes or Biyernes Santo in tagalog, Manila is the place where many people visit because of the icon of Nazareno from Quiapo church will be visible along Quiapo area. The icon of Nazareno shows Jesus carrying the cross. It is really essential to reflect, ask forgiveness, and do more kindness this time of the year.
I'm so glad that there are a few bloggers who blog about Catholicism.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your post. God bless you.
I hope that we can realize the true essence of lent, penance and forgiveness. It is always to know that others are doing their shares to spread the goodness of the Lord.
ReplyDeleteLent is a reminder of how we should live our lives the whole year through. Let us not forget God's love, mercy and sacrifice the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteNice read :))
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. This is the typical Manileño observance of Semana Santa. For me, I do appreciate them, for at least once a year they devote their time to celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. They do sacrifice by fasting and doing some penance. They're entitled for their own belief. Just like others we should respect them too.
ReplyDeleteDEVOTION should truly comes from the within us... voluntarily and not forcefully.
ReplyDeleteThough we have our own BELIEFS... we Filipinos are religious but being one is far different from being SPIRITUAL. We believe in GOD though we never see HIM but we do feel HIM through our HEARTS.
I'm not a Catholic, but I want to make a Visita Iglesia tomorrow (on various Metro Manila churches).
ReplyDeletewow, ang daming tao talaga, para ring feast of Nazareno... yes, we should always remember how Jesus saved us all, kahit na sino ka pa. Yahweh bless.
ReplyDeletehttp://trunklocker.blogspot.com/2012/04/going-to-palm-sunday-mass-celebration.html
I don't know why but I'm enjoying Holy Week even I'm not a Catholic. Maybe it's because of how I see about them, you know for having strong faith.
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Filipinos have many tradition when it's Holy Week, but I hope they don't lose the essence of Holy Week.
ReplyDeleteI just stayed at home and recite the holy rosary. This post is really a reminded of Christian Catholic on how Christ save us from our sins.:-).
ReplyDeleteI experienced holy week both in the metro and in my province. I must say, I miss the holy week in my province esp preparing activities for our church that i cannot readily do here.
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