holy week

the lenten season has begun last february 22, ash wednesday, but i didn't realised that the last week of lent is already here until i noticed the extreme hot temperature yesterday. yeah, the sun's scorching heat is here again. i really dunno what it is with the holy week that it seems to be hotter than the usual or is it just a psychological reaction.

it was palm sunday yesterday and i had to take a leave again just to be able to attend mass. yeah, ireally dont have a lot of time to attend mass every sunday because i have work during that day and honestly, i really have to make time for it because my mom prefers to attend mass in antipolo cathedral. most often, i can't get up early in the morning because my shift ends at 10pm and i usually fall asleep at 2am.



while we were in antipolo cathedral yesterday. i took some pics of the cathedral.

i will try to take more pics of the cathedral when we go back on maundy thursday. i hope i can take pics on easter sunday, too during the salubong in my home town, angono, rizal. i hope i can get up early to witness it. it usually starts at 4am and i usually fall asleep at 2am so good luck. hehehe...

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Holy Week in the Philippines (text taken from wikipedia.org)

In this largely Roman Catholic nation, Holy Week, known as Semana Santa, is treated as one of the most important religious festivals of the entire year. At Mass on Palm Sunday, Catholics carry "palaspas" or palm leaves to be blessed by the priest. Many Filipinos bring home the palm leaves after the Mass and place these above their front doors or their windows, believing that doing so can ward off evil spirits. Holy Monday marks the beginning of the Pabasa (literally, reading) or Pasyon, the marathon chanting of the story of Jesus' life, passion, and death, which continues day and night, for as long as two straight days. A popular Holy Thursday tradition is the Bisita Iglesia (Church Visit), which involves visiting several Churches at which the faithful would pray the Stations of the Cross. The last Mass before Easter is also celebrated on Holy Thursday, usually including a reenactment of the Washing of the Feet of the Apostles; this Mass is followed by the procession of the Blessed Sacrament before it is taken to the Altar of Repose. Good Friday in the Philippines is commemorated with street processions, the Way of the Cross, the commemoraton of Jesus' Seven last words (Siete Palabras) and a Passion play called the Sinakulo. In some communities (most famously in the province of Pampanga), the processions include devotees who self-flagellate and sometimes even have themselves nailed to crosses as expressions of penance. After three o'clock in the afternoon of Good Friday (the time at which Jesus is traditionally believed to have died), noise is discouraged, bathing is proscribed and the faithful are urged to keep a solemn and prayerful disposition through Black Saturday. Easter morning is marked with joyous celebration, the first being the dawn Salubong, wherein large statues of Jesus and Mary are brought in procession together to meet, imagining the first reunion of Jesus and his mother Mary after Jesus' Resurrection. This is followed by the joyous Easter Mass.