Good Friday Prusisyon in Project 6, QC
My good pal Annabs suggested that we, along with our friend Niño, document any activity that would pass as a holy week observance in our area. And I thought, what on earth would I find worth documenting in Project 6? I’ve lived there for nearly 3 years now but I’ve never found anything worth even taking a second look at. Sure, I’m renting an apartment there, but it’s because of its proximity to my school, not because it’s the most interesting residential area in the metro. It’s strategic alright, just a jeepney ride away from Trinoma and SM North, but it’s essentially a “city” which, compared to Balagtas, Bulacan (Annabs’) and Camarin, Caloocan (Niño’s), has nothing special and unusual to offer. It has the popular Mt. Carmel Church, but this church is more famous for its mass baptismal rites on weekends than for its holy week celebration. I doubt we have a senakulo or even a pabasa, as I haven’t seen any. That I felt stuck with very little to work with would be an understatement. I wanted to go someplace exotic, but that wouldn’t technically be “my area.” And with buses filled with tourists, go where exactly? So in the spirit of friendship and practicality (and boredom really), I went to Mt. Carmel Church anyway which is only a block away from my place.
The rain, the images, and the multitude
Great, just great, I thought, it’s effing raining. Now I have to hold a camera with one hand and an umbrella with another. The rain wasn’t heavy enough to get me soaked, but alarming enough to ruin my camera. I wanted to run inside the church, but it was way too crowded. Could this day get any worse? Ah, a commercial building right across the church, with an open internet shop teeming with kids playing Dota and Ragnarok to boot. Not very holy week, is it? So I decided to stay in the shade and to watch the people outside the church instead. Candle vendors, check. Old religious people, check. Families, check. But surprisingly, there were also young couples that seemed to be out on a date and, more unexpectedly, groups of camera-carrying emo kids who were definitely not in their Sunday best. To add to the crowd anticipating a religious parade, there were also barangay officials controlling the flow of traffic. And let’s also not forget the devotees in charge of the images of Christ and saints perched on floats/carriages decorated with flowers and lights.
Several minutes and many bored children later, the mild rain finally let up. Leave it to the power of pilgrims’ prayers to not allow even the weather to get in the way. But just when you thought the parade was good to go, the ceremonial mass wasn’t finished yet. So I did what a normal churchgoer would do-to patiently wait.
The prusisyon
I don’t particularly remember the sequence of the images during the parade, which saint preceded which. But I think the female saints (St. Monica in a purple dress, St. Mary Magdalene in gold) went before the male saints (St. Joseph for one, the rest I can’t recall) and several images of Christ (on a donkey, a pensive one, on the cross, the Nazarene). I wonder, does this mean the Ladies First rule is alive and well in the church? What else could it be?
But what I vividly remember was the ceremony of blessing the images. It was already dark when the priests and the lay ministers came up on the street stage, which was set up right in front of the church. By this time the performers of the ritual were ready, the lights had been turned on, and the stars of the show, the images, no less, were being blessed with incense. It was amazing that although there were many people on the street, it was relatively quiet, as they were serenely focused on the blessing. The image of St. Something is being taken care by Brother/Sister Somebody, the Church, and the people of God, announced the voice of a lay minister on the microphone as each image approached the stage. With candles in hand, the prusisyon participants started walking behind their patrons, murmuring prayers in unison. And this prusisyon went on for one block, then another, and another. Good thing I’m a bit of a walker/occasional hiker myself so I hardly found the prusisyon exhausting. A little tedious perhaps, but not tiring at all. But what amazed me was how these people, particularly the elderly, managed the relatively long walk given their (most likely) sedentary lifestyles. I suppose it’s the sense of duty for most, a sense of keeping up with their neighbors for some, or even just a sense of curiosity for the young ones that sustained them. Or it probably boils down to faith- faith in the sanctity of the prusisyon, faith in the Lenten season, and, ultimately, faith in Christ who died on the cross.
I was born to a (nominally) Catholic family, went to a Catholic grade school, which I suppose is enough to make me a Catholic by virtue of association and early education. At present I don’t practice any particularly religion, and would not even claim to be a believer. But while watching the crowd of devotees before and during the prusisyon, I couldn’t help but admire and envy them for their faith. At this time and age when holy week is usually spent by most believers on the beach or at home watching movies on cable, braving the rain, waiting for the seemingly interminable parade, and walking the long walk nowadays count for something. They have faith and they profess it through their belief in traditions and ceremonies.
After all, we all need to believe in something.
