Holy Week

Holy Week brings back a lot of memories, mostly during the early days of my life.
We used to live in Tondo, a suburb in Manila, there I grew up and learned a lot about life.
My parents held this annual "PABASA" or "PASYON" and for almost 20 years, year after year during Maundy Thursday til Good Friday, an overnight non-stop singing of the book containing the life and times of our Lord Jesus Christ takes place.


The Pasyon refers to the verse narrative on the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ. The pasyon text may be written in Tagalog or in other major Philippine languages, like Pampango, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Bicol, Ilongo, Cebuano, and Waray. There are also pasyon narrative among the Ibanag and Itawes of Cagayan, the Gaddang of Nueva Vizcaya, and the Cuyunon of Palawan. Among the Tagalog, the most commonly used text is entitled Casaysayan ng pasiong mahal ni Jesucristong Panginoon natin na sucat ipag-alab ng puso ng sinumang babasa (An account of the sacred passion of our Lord Jesus Christ which should inflame the heart of anyone who reads it), which is one of the many later editions of a work by an unknown writer first published in 1814.

Continuous singing of this length is not practiced in the Spanish and Mexican lenten traditions. It relates to the Philippine cultural practice connected with epic singing during important celebrations of the community. The pasyon may also be chanted, though rarely now, during wakes and death anniversaries, as well as during the reenactment of Christ's Last Supper on Holy Thursday evening. There are various melodies and musical styles in the rendering of the pasyon.

Because the text is in 5-line stanzas while melodic phrases tend to be symmetrical, various techniques are employed to reconcile the difference. In a widely used, old Tagalog punto, the first musical phrase encompasses lines 1 and 2, while the second musical phrase covers lines 3, 4, and 5. In adapting folk song melodies or similar tunes, a four-phrase melody is first sung for lines 1 to 4, which is repeated to render lines 2 to 5. Another formula makes a four-phrase melody coincide with lines 1 to 4 and appends a stock melody or standard melodic ending for line five. Generally, pasyon singing is a capella.

The pasyon chanting tradition is seen by many of its practitioners as a vow or panata made by an individual or family, which in many cases has been passed on from one to two generations back.

There were a lot of events that happen during those years, some natural, some for me, supernatural other just plain memories.

Once an earthquake occured at about 3:00 P.M in the afternoon, just about the time (supposedly) that Jesus died.
Then almost always during about that time too on Good Friday, the sky is a bit dark as if rain is coming though it did not.
Blessing pour out, for the community share their part on feeding the singers and those who sang overnight and other helpers. Food is abundant, the community unites for that particular moment.


Me I am always busy eating, but nonetheless do my part in singing at least for an hour with my siblings. In between the hours men doing penitence passes by and pray with us. These men scared me and my siblings back then for these men wore blood-soaked tattered clothes and beat their backs with blade or broken glass-ridden whips. We would often ran inside the house and peeked through the window or the door til they pass.

Most of all, I remember my Papa, my father who leads everyone with this event.
After the "PABASA" everyone would remove their shoes or slippers and carry their own patron saints or crucifix and together as one, we'll walk for about some kilometers, barefooted towards Sto. Nino church for a special mass to all devotees and upon returning back to the community there will be this one big banquet for everyone to enjoy.

Time. Fleeting. Fast. Goes by that quickly.
My father died a few years back and we tried to continue with this legacy.

But soon we moved out of Tondo and now settles in Cavite. The closest province to Manila.
The "PABASA" stopped but the memory lives on.

I sometimes still hear the echo of the melody my neighbors sang in the deepest caverns of my mind. I can still dream of my Papa walking barefooted and carrying our crucifix, I know that act of his is his own way of bearing all the worries and troubles for his family. It's his way of sparing us all our sadness and pains. I miss him so much.

It was a good memory and forever will be in my heart.