The Good Friday procession in Sampaloc, Manila is markedly different from the one we are used to seeing in Virac.
The procession was preceded by a brass band playing the instrumental version of Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, followed by a number of carrozas carrying similar images of the Nazareno, all with their own bands.
At number 12 was the pazos of the Santo Entierro carried by men clad in the distinctive Nazareno uniforms and preceded by two ropes to which scores of barefoot devotees clung as they dragged it forward along the narrow streets.
This was followed by the carroza of St. Peter, a number of Santas and then another Santo Entierro and the Dolor carroza.
Most of the crowd were with the Nazarenos and the #12 Santo Entierro, while the following images had only the members and friends of the family maintaining the image.
The streets along the procession were already cleared of parked vehicles and other obstructions after noontime, something which could be done along the routes of the three main processions in the capital town during the Holy Week.
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A historian from Spain and member of the Opus Dei was at the Tribune office last week to look at the newspaper archives, hopeful that he could at least find some articles on religious rites in Catanduanes.
But he left unfulfilled as the older issues, in the late 60’s to the 80’s, mostly featured news about local politics and crime reportage.
Topics about the Catholic faith came out only during the time of then Msgr. Jose “Fr. Ping” Molina when he tasked Rev. Fr. Edmund Vargas to write a weekly column in the Tribune.
On local practices during the Holy Week, he specifically asked if there are still surviving photographs of the grotto built by residents for the Holy Wednesday and Good Friday processions especially in barangay Rawis.
The grotto was usually made of banana trunks, decorated elaborately with coconut palm fronds carved vegetables like red and green “siling haba” and bell pepper.
I remember taking a photo of it for the then black-and-white Tribune issue but the picture may have been misplaced or lost during the years, most likely to typhoon damage.
If anyone still has one photo, kindly take snap a picture using your cellphone and send it to the Tribune Facebook page.
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THE REALITIES OF THE BIBLE. A boy was sitting on a park bench with one hand resting on an open Bible. He was loudly exclaiming his praise to God. “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God is great!” he yelled without worrying whether anyone heard him or not.
Shortly after, along came a man who had recently completed some studies at a local university. Feeling himself very enlightened in the ways of truth and very eager to show this enlightenment, he asked the boy about the source of his joy.
“Hey” asked the boy in return with a bright laugh, “Don’t you have any idea what God is able to do? I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle.”
The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open his eyes to the “realities” of the miracles of the Bible. “That can all be very easily explained. Modern scholarship has shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10-inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across.”
The boy was stumped. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible laying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor, naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight, turned to go. Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice and praise louder than before. The man turned to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation.
“Wow!” exclaimed the boy happily, “God is greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10 inches of water!”