Holy Week in the Philippines

 c. AD 30, Jerusalem

• On Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem triumphantly, sitting astride a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9: "Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." People laid down palm branches and coats in His path. The Pharisees tried to silence them, but failed, and Jesus defended them. He then wept over the sad state of affairs in Jerusalem.
• On Wednesday, Judas Iscariot made a deal with the chief priests to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
• On Thursday, Jesus and His disciples held their Passover feast in an upper room, which Christians still remember today when they take communion. Judas left the feast to betray Jesus. They then left and proceeded to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus went aside to pray. Judas arrived with a crowd, and Peter resorted to violence, which Jesus healed and told him to put his sword away. The disciples fled as Jesus was arrested and taken to trial. During the trial, Peter denied 3 times that he knew Jesus, and when the cock crowed, he realized what he had done and wept. Maundy Thursday was an eventful and very emotional day and night.
• On Friday, having been beaten horribly and made to wear a thorny crown, Jesus was forced to carry a cross down the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering) in Jerusalem. When it became too much, the Roman authorities made Simon, a man from Cyrene, Libya, carry it for Him. When they reached the top of Golgotha, or Skull Hill, they crucified Jesus with two thieves. The sky grew dark as many viewers mocked Jesus. One of the thieves joined in the mocking, but the other one got after him for it. Jesus told the latter thief that he would see him in paradise. Jesus entrusted His mother Mary to the care of His disciple John. He wondered aloud why God had abandoned Him. After being given a drink, He declared things finished, and entrusted His spirit to God. As the Sabbath was approaching, the Jews quickly brought His dead body down from the cross and buried it in a tomb that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. Burial spices would have to wait until after the Sabbath.
• On Saturday, Jesus' devastated followers observed Shabbat and grieved the loss of the man who had changed their lives.
• Early Sunday morning, several women brought burial spices to the grave, and wondered who would move the heavy stone away. Imagine their surprise when they arrived to discover that the stone was already rolled away! The tomb was empty, except for grave wrappings! The women were afraid, bewildered and confused. They ran to get Peter and John, who returned to the tomb and found the empty tomb and grave clothes. Peter and John returned home, but Mary Magdalene hung around. She looked in the tomb again and was shocked to discover two angels sitting there! They wondered why she was crying, and she told them someone had taken Jesus' body away. She then turned around and saw someone else that she didn't recognize, who also asked why she was crying. She asked this person if he knew where the body was. When the stranger said, "Mary," she recognized Him as Jesus! He told her to go tell the disciples, which she did. That evening, the disciples (except for Thomas and the now-late Judas) were having dinner, and Jesus appeared to them. Thomas didn't believe them when they told him. Jesus appeared to Thomas a week later. (Note: Most of this is from John's account of the Resurrection in John 20. Other Gospel writers also mention that the angel(s) asked the women why they were looking for the living among the dead.)

Magellan's Cross in Cebu, Philippines
Photo by Allan Jay Quesada
CC BY-SA 4.0 license

AD 1521, Cebu and Mactan Islands, Philippines

• In his "ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before"* while circumnavigating the globe, Portuguese/Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed on an island in the middle of an archipelago in the Pacific. The island would eventually become known as Cebu. He brought the Roman Catholic faith to the islands, and spent some time there. He presented Santo Niño, the Holy Child, a statue of the child Jesus, to the local king Rajah Humabon and his wife Queen Humamay.
• In an attempt to help the people of Cebu, he travelled to the nearby island of Mactan, where he and his men were attacked by the tribe led by the local chieftain Lapu Lapu. In the ensuing Battle of Mactan, Magellan's journey ended at the end of a spear. His crew would return to Spain, among the first to circumnavigate the globe. Lapu Lapu is still regarded as a Philippine hero, for defeating foreign colonists.
• Though the people of Mactan did not convert, many in Cebu did. However, they did not entirely abandon their earlier animistic beliefs. Animists believe that everything, including inanimate objects, has a soul. There are good and evil spirits. Evil spirits must be scared away with talismans and by other means. Combine that with the Christian concepts of angels and demons, and you get some interesting, if unusual, customs.

Growing up in the Philippines in the 1980s, I saw what Philippine Catholics did and assumed that was typical of all Catholics. I would not learn until later that some of their customs are unique to the Philippines. While I don't think this is a comprehensive list of their customs, what follows is my recollections from childhood. Please note, by explaining this, I mean no disrespect to the Catholic Church or anyone else. While it saddens me that people feel the need to do all this, and it misses the point of Christ's sacrifice, it takes a lot of devotion.

Palm Sunday

Philippine Catholic devotees make a pilgrimage to the local church. Traffic is completely blocked by a sea of people all heading to get their palm branches blessed by the local priest. Some carry Catholic statues and other objects. Once their palm branches have been blessed, they return home and post them on their door. For a few days, there is a green branch on the door. As it dies, it turns brown, but remains on the door until next Palm Sunday. This is supposed to protect the house by warding off evil spirits throughout the year. It was common to see palm branches on people's doors.

Good Friday

This is a very disturbing day. In the hottest part of the year, just north of the equator, penitent flagellants beat themselves with whips, often laced with shards of glass or other sharp objects. They parade down the streets in a reenactment of Christ's walk down the Via Dolorosa. It is part theatre, but part real. The blood is real. The pain is real. The heatstroke is real. While we did not participate, I did nearly faint from the heat once, just watching. Many believe they must do this to be forgiven of their sins, and some do it for other reasons. People dressed as Roman soldiers are everywhere. A person dressed as Jesus (usually a man, but not always) carries a cross down the street, sometimes accompanied by people playing the thieves. When they get to the site of the crucifixion, the people carrying crosses are nailed to them (sometimes literally, sometimes in such a way that it just looks like it from a distance, sometimes just tied, sometimes both tied and nailed). They hang on the crosses just long enough to reenact the crucifixion, and then they are taken down and rushed to the hospital.

The Catholic Church officially frowns on this tradition, but has done little to stop it, as far as I am aware.

Crucifixion in San Fernando City,
Pampanga province, Philippines
April 19, 2019
Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

Black Saturday

Many people believe Jesus is literally dead every year on Black Saturday. They generally try not to take risks, as Jesus may not be available to help out. This coming Saturday, my post will go into more detail on a specific Black Saturday that I remember well, when something happened that caused a mother to be upset that her daughter chose to travel that day.

Easter

Everything is back to normal. Our Protestant church held sunrise services every Easter, where we would meet earlier than normal outside and worship as the sun came up. When I was young, I questioned whether Catholics believed in the Resurrection, as I did not see much out of the ordinary on that day. But on further reflection, if they are willing to do things, and trust that God is there to help them, they clearly do believe that Christ rose from the dead.

As I have grown older, I have learned that the Philippine brand of Roman Catholicism, some of which is even frowned on by the Philippine Catholic Church, is not typical. Some call it Folk Catholicism. I have come to respect many of my Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ, and I have learned a lot about their faith. In this world that is so sharply divided, I think we need to come together and learn from each other. We need to hold fast to our beliefs, but we also need to listen to others, and we can agree to disagree on many of the details. So much pain and death could have been avoided in the Middle Ages if Catholics and Protestants (or Christians and Muslims) had just listened to each other! They might have realized they agreed on more than they knew.

* The quote referring to Magellan is from Star Trek, not anything to do with Magellan...but it seemed appropriate here.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Ni%C3%B1o_de_Ceb%C3%BA