Every summer season in April of each year, a lot of families go back to their hometown and celebrate the Holy Week as Christians in the Philippines. It's also a form of family reunion and bonding for somewhere they go to the beach, rent a pool or they just stay at home and find peace and pray during the Lenten season.
For us, family, we always gather in our province in Laguna, Philippines and we rent the same pool every year or we go to the nearby falls that we have in our town (Twin Falls). Free flowing water coming from the nature that runs through the pool going to the river and to the bay area. It's cold and naturally beautiful.
You will hear birds chirping, the waterfalls that splash its water, you will hear some monkeys making their noises and people having fun swimming and singing on a videoke machine.
Friday, during the Holy Week, my relatives always participate in the procession held by the local church in our town and we always admire those penitents seeking repentance thumping their backs using their man-made whips. Penance or Penitensya in Tagalog is a sacrifice of penitents to seek remorse for the sins that they did in the past. They inflict wounds on their back using a metal blade depending on how many cuts they prefer. They are using a whip made out of wooden sticks and for some they use metal-like chains to strike their backs.
It's a spiritual act that has been a tradition in some parts of the Philippines and open to all people who are asking for forgiveness to our Lord, Jesus Christ. There are some people who would crucify themselves just like what Romans did to Jesus as a form of repentance.
You may also visit other places like Batangas, Bulacan, Pampanga and Mindoro if you wish to catch sight of these religious acts and traditions here in the Philippines. Watch this video I took from the procession last Friday (April 19, 2019). You can also watch it on my Youtube Channel.
So, how was your Holy Week vacation? I hope you were able to reflect and reset your lives and be a better person.
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