Holy Week season has ended today and the traditions regarding Christ’s death, burial and resurrection are the main highlight of this event. There are several traditions observed here in the Philippines during the Lent season, the Pabasa, Senakulo and Penitensya. These are a Catholic traditions practiced here, although they are rarely seen in the Metro. The Pabasa, is a looong reading of the life of Christ, at times read with a mellow tune and could take days to finish. The Senakulo is a re-enactment of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. These events are quite exciting as the whole town is usually involved and can follow throughout the 12 Stations of the Cross. Then lastly is Penitensya or penance from sin, it is a bit of a bloody scene and a part done in the Senakulo. Men walk around with their heads covered and bare feet while whipping their backs. Women play a part too, they are clothed in black from head to toe as they walk around the town with their faces covered as well during the heat of the day.
One particular place you can go visit to witness such events is in Bataan. It is located in Central Luzon, famous to be a part of the infamous Death March during the Japanese Occupation WW2. It is divided in 11 municipalities and 1 component city namely, Balanga (City), Bagac, Dinalupihan, Mariveles, Orani, Hermosa, Limay, Morong, Orion, Pilar, Samal, and Abucay. The municipality we went to is Bagac. Every year since 2000, our household spends our summer outing in Saysain, Bagac, Bataan, it is more of a tradition in our house that signifies the start of Summer. We spend 4 days in the beach and get ourselves toasted, :-D. Let’s start with…
I used my handy Canon Pixus 80IS and some cellphones to take photos.
It was so humid and hot that we had to wear light coloured clothes. Whew! 😛 Since we were a bit mindful of our skin tone, we decided to swim around 4:30pm where sun’s rays aren’t too harmful and it wouldn’t have much of a darkening effect. Teehee. BTW, we didn’t forgot to apply sunscreen too!
A wacky shot using a monopod and Sunny’s phone.
On our second day, my parents and the rest of our household joined us at around 1:30am. We travelled by 2 batches. I woke up really early that day around 5:30am and that is a rare one for me. ^_^ So, I toured Sunny to the river that connects to the sea.
By night, we went out to the town for a basketball game with the locals and by chance we encountered a Senakulo, this segment was when the soldiers are searching for Jesus Christ.
On our third day, we went to the Market to buy rice cakes and witness the third part of the Senakulo: Christ’s Arrest. We also happen to pass by my favorite house in Bataan. It was for sale back then but sadly, it has a new owner na. 😦 Lakas maka-sad, parang may pambili! Hahaha.
And like our usual routine, we ended our swimming by being buried in the sand.
The fourth dawn came, *sighs* we all woke up early to see the cave during a low-tide occasion. It is hard and dangerous to pass by the cave during high-tide, aside from the sucking pressure and strong sea current, you might get wounded from the sharp rocks beside it.
So that concludes our 4 day Holy Week retreat in Saysain, Bagac, Bataan. Looking forward for more Holy Weeks to spend and memories to create in this place! See you on my next adventure and Happy Easter folks! 🙂
Merci beaucoup et á bientôt!
NicaCanWrite 