CANCELLED DURING the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the rich rites and rituals attendant to the observance of the Holy Week are back anew in my somnolent hometown of Sto. Tomas, Pampanga. Here is how the semana santa has always been celebrated, written here 10 years ago yet.
MALELDO. A contraction of mal a aldo – directly translating
to a highly-valued, hence, holy day – has evolved to be the one word comprising
the Holy Week and all its rituals. Maleldo is intertwined
with kaleldo – summer, the season when it is observed.
The etymology of Maleldo is
easy enough to explain. The rituals and practices exclusive to the town of Sto.
Tomas are a different thing.
In the absence of written
history, the oral tradition – kuwento ni lola – is the only
source of information on the rituals of maleldo.
From the Canlas sisters – Apung Mameng
(1898-1976) who remained unmarried, Apung Rita vda de Zapata
(1901-1980), Apung Bibang vda de Manese (1903-1978) – came the
information written here, passed on to them by their mother Demetria
Pineda-Canlas.
“Ding apu (grandmother)
nang ima mi mig-sagala nala kanu king maleldu,” the sisters were wont to say to their inquisitive grandchildren
at the time.
The Holy Week starts with Viernes
Dolores, later moved to Sabado Dolores. The change
came in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s – somewhere at the tailend of the Cursillo
Movement -- to “circumvent” the rigid abstinence of
no-meat-on-the-Fridays-of-Lent. (It has since reverted to Friday.)
A triumvirate of women handles
the activities: the hermana mayora, the mayordoma and
the secretaria. The three fetch the image of the Mater
Dolorosa from the house of the camadera in Barangay
San Bartolome and head the procession to the church on the eve of Viernes
Dolores.
Viernes Dolores
The day starts with
a morning Mass followed by a breakfast – courtesy of the secretaria -- for
the Mass-goers on the church grounds.
At lunchtime, presided by
the hermana, the saladoras – a group
comprising of previous hermanas, mayordomas, secretarias, as
well as descendants of those who served as such but have long gone – gather to
choose the successors to the three oficiales.
Choice per position is
through bola-suerte. Two jars are used: one contains rolled
pieces of paper in which are written the names of the candidates; the other,
rolled papers commensurate to the number of candidates – all blank but for one
with the word suerte. The name of the candidate drawn from the
first jar that matches the suerte from the second jar becomes
the hermana, mayordoma, or the secretaria.
In the evening, the image of
the Mater Dolorosa is venerated in a procession around town
with the hermana and her court, escorted by their husbands,
preceding the carro.
The procession marks the debut
appearance of the estabats – twelve young lasses that make a
choir, accompanied by a manggirigi – a violinist – as they
sing hymns to the Blessed Virgin.
Estabats
The estabats are
so-called after the opening lines of their Latin hymn “stabat Mater
Dolorosa…” roughly translated to “the Sorrowful Mother was standing…”
Supervision of the Holy Week
celebrations shifts from the hermana to a Holy Week Executive
Committee after the Viernes Dolores. The committee chair is
selected each year and is given the freehand to choose his officers and
members.
Domingo de Ramos -- Palm Sunday -- comes with the traditional blessing of…well,
palm and olive branches in a barrio chapel – alternately in San Bartolome and
San Vicente – followed by a procession to the parish church with the parish
priest taking the role of Christ on the way to Jerusalem accompanied by twelve
men acting and dressed in the role of the 12 Apostles.
At the four corners of the
churchyard or the street fronting the church stand kubu-kubuan where
choir members sing hosanna and shower the priest with petals and confetti. The
celebration ends with a Mass.
Lunes Santo and Martes Santo were quiet days. Until
the cenaculo or reading of the Passion was moved to Martes
Santo and Miercoles Santo.
Originally, the cenaculo was
held on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. In the ‘70s, it was moved to Holy
Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, to give full contemplation on the suffering and
death of Christ on Good Friday. Sometime later it was further moved to when it
is now being celebrated.
Traditionally, the cenaculo is
an affair of the youth. A president from each gender gets elected to chair the
festivity which comprises of the reading of the Passion and the serving of --
variably, depending on the collections – ice cream and barquillos or kalame. Of
late, the word cenaculo has given way to the Tagalog pabasa. A
more appropriate term, so the purists hold, given that a cenaculo goes
beyond mere reading of the Passion to include a play or a drama of the Passion.
Camaderas
In between the carros are
the cofradias and church organizations and the camaderas, the
owners or caretakers of the images.
Maundy Thursday marks the
observance of the washing of the feet of the apostles and the Last Supper. The
parish priest is assisted by the Holy Week Committee chair and officers at the
foot-washing rites.
After the ceremonies, the parish
priest and the apostoles take their own supper at the parish
rectory and partake of the cordero, a dish of beef covered with
potatoes shaped like a lamb.
Rites and ceremonies for Good
Friday start shortly after noon with the Las Siete Palabras, homilies
and meditation on the final seven utterances of Christ at Calvary, which end at
3:00 in the afternoon, traditionally believed to have been the hour of Christ’s
death.
Tanggal, a dramatization in song and verse of Christ’s body being taken
down from the cross, used to follow the Las Siete Palabras. The
last staging of tanggal was held in 1979.
Taking centerstage in the Good Friday procession is the Santo Entierro. It has become a tradition for the faithful to pluck out all the flowers decked in the carro as soon as it enters the church after the procession. Some claim miraculous attributes to the flowers.
At the procession, the estabats sing
mournful hymns and dirges in reflection of the pain and anguish suffered by
the Mater Dolorosa over the death of her son.
Sabado de Gloria is highlighted by the Easter Vigil rites and Mass with the
blessing of the fire and water as well as the renewal of the baptismal vows.
Domingo de Pascua
– Easter Sunday – marks the climax
of the Holy Week celebrations in more ways than spiritual, folk art,
aesthetics, socials melding into it.
Pusu-puso
Before 6:00 in the morning, the
faithful gather at the churchyard for the Salubong, the first
meeting between the Risen Christ and the Blessed Mother.
Under a pusu-puso, a
veiled image of the Virgin Mary faces – behind a curtain – the image of the
Risen Christ. The pusu-puso opens gradually, raining in petals and
confetti on the images. At its final opening, comes out a young girl dressed as
an angel in a kalo, an improvised swing, singing “Regina
Laetare, Alleluia” as she is lowered down to take the veil off the
Blessed Mother. At this, the curtain parts, the brass band plays and the
faithful applaud to mark the start of the procession.
At the head of the procession are the ciriales, bearer of the ceremonial cross and candles in the person of three ladies in their fineries with their escorts in barong. They are followed by the banderada, the bearer of the Vatican flag.
Sometime in the ‘80s, mini-sagalas were
introduced. These are little girls dressed as angels to accompany the incensario, the
bearer of the censer and the incense boat, and the angel who took the veil off
the Blessed Mother.
Next come the estabats, singing
glorious hymns and raining petals on the Atlung Maria at
designated stops along the processional route.
The Atlung Maria symbolize the Virgin Mother, Mary Magdalene and Mary Cleofas. By tradition, the center – the spot of the Virgin – is reserved for the most beautiful of the three sagalas. It is therefore a most coveted spot. Sagalas for the Atlung Maria are exclusive to ladies born and bred in Sto. Tomas or those whose ancestry can be traced to the town. In the social milieu, no lady from Sto. Tomas is truly beautiful unless she has been one of the Atlung Maria.
With the Atlung Maria is
the Ciru Pascual, the bearer of the Paschal Candle, always a
local bachelor or one whose bloodline comes from the town.
The images of the Risen Christ
and the Blessed Mother bring the rear of the procession which ends with a High
Mass.
Blasting Judas
After the Mass, the faithful
congregate anew at the churchyard for the burning – exploding is more apt here
– of an effigy of Judas Iscariot.
Atop a scaffolding, Judas is
ignited by pyrotechnic ravens and then twists, turns upside down, rotates and
starts exploding from the legs up the arms, the body and lastly, the head with
the loudest bang.
Lost in some vengeful glee among
the faithful is the meaning behind the burning of Judas: That spiritually
renewed with the fire and water of Sabado de Gloria, restored
in grace with the Risen Christ, the faithful should cast away all vestiges of
sin, of spiritual shortcomings with Judas and burn them away. This is no less a
form of a holocaust offered to God. The very essence of the celebration of the
Holy Week.
Mayhaps, it is with that thought
that in 2010, the Judas effigy made way for an unnamed human form marked with
the seven deadly sins. Still complete with the blasting though. In the following
years, the human form was totally discarded in favour of a papier-mache globe
likewise marked with the seven deadly sins, which blasting symbolize the
liberation from worldly sins and the salvation of mankind. Indeed, a more apt
metaphor obtaining there than in the seeming scapegoating with the Judas
effigy. (The Judas effigy has since replaced the globe.)
Sabuaga
In 2010 too, the loud bang of
the seven deadly sins ceased to be the closing act of the annual Holy Week celebrations
in Sto. Tomas. To the old rites was added the Sabuaga Festival.
Sabuaga comes from the combination of sabuag (scatter)
and sampaga (flowers) – the sagalas’ showering
of petals on the image of the Virgin Mary in “veneration of her keeping the
faith and oneness with her Son in His sufferings, thus her rewards in His
joyful resurrection.”
Petals and confetti literally
rain on the processional route around Poblacion, starting 2 p.m. of Easter
Sunday as revelers join groups coming from the town’s seven barangays in street
dancing.
At the town plaza where the revelry culminates, the groups in their most exotic costumes reflective of the product of the barangays they represent will each do its own interpretative dance presentation, on the theme sabuag sampaga, naturally. Judges coming from the arts, culture and tourism sector will proclaim the winners.
A trade and industry component
to the festival is provided by the town’s one-barangay-one-product exhibit
around the town plaza, with each barangay displaying its produce, notably the
pottery and ceramics of Sto. Niño, and the caskets of San Vicente.
Sto. Tomas is known as the
casket capital of Central Luzon, if not of the whole country, having at one
time supplied funeral parlors throughout the whole archipelago and even nearby
Asian countries.
In effect, Sabuaga serves
as a one-stop showcase of the spirituality, culture, and industry of the people
of Sto. Tomas.
Sabuaga serves too as a fitting climax to the Holy Week celebration in
Pampanga, being the last major event of the season.
(First published 3 April 2013)
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