Pampanga: Good Friday in San Fernando, Pampanga

Pampanga is a culture of contrasts, where the genteel elegance of the olden days collides with folk traditions. And the City of San Fernando on Good Friday is an embodiment of that clash, where both cultures come alive in their own ritualistic and colorful displays of faith.

I had to be in San Pedro Cutud before 11 a.m. so that I could watch the Via Crucis, a Kapampangan passion play written in the 1950s which began the crucifixion frenzy that has put San Fernando on the global map. While driving, I was surprised to see so many people lining MacArthur Highway. Then I remembered that there was also a group which made its way around our area and we would also wait for them to pass by when I was a small kid. I wonder how the guy survived all the pushing and the hitting.

In Pampanga, penitents are called magdarame. There are specific names for various types such as mamalaspas or those who flagellate themselves, mamusan krus for the cross-bearers, magsalibatbat for those who crawl on dirt roads, at times under the hot summer sun, and cristos which refers to those who have themselves nailed on crosses.

Anyway, I was expecting heavy traffic in Cutud by this time so I parked my car in the poblacion and took a pedicab to the crucifixion area. You'd be surprised by the number of foreign tourists who attend. On the way, I saw many of them in vehicles with diplomatic plates and all. As always, I forgot to bring my hat and now I have to deal with a badly sunburned face.

If you could not stand the sight of blood, Cutud is just not for you. On the way, you have dozens of flagellants making their way to the crucifixion site as well and it's close to impossible to keep your clothes blood free. As they whip themselves, blood would definitely splatter and it's very difficult to move around to avoid getting hit.

Don't be surprised too if you see everyone eating pork along the way. Bantayan Island is not the only place in the Philippines allowed to eat meat on Good Friday. Today is one of two fiestas celebrated annually in San Pedro Cutud and they've been granted dispensation too!

People do not realize that there is history in the Cutud crucifixions. It may be imitated in other parts of Pampanga and the Philippines, but the Via Crucis is something that makes it culturally significant. It is the only Kapampangan language passion play and it has been done non-stop since the 1950s with the first crucifixion in San Pedro.

The crucifixions start as soon as the Via Crucis makes its way to the hill after going around San Pedro Cutud. This is the only passion play in the entire world where the players are really nailed to the cross. It actually starts with the arrest at the entrance of the barangay. Then several scenes are reenacted around the barangay culminating with the crucifixion in the hill.

Stretchers are on standby, waiting for the penitent to signal the centurions to bring him down. After the first three are finished, the next set prepares to mount the cross. You could hear shrieks from the crowd as they watch the designated spotters hammer the nails into the hands and feet of the penitents. It may look foolish to many but these are acts of faith. Referred to as panata in Kapampangan, these are vows made by the penitents in the hope that their prayers will be answered.

I realized it was already 2 p.m. when it ended. My stomach was already grumbling since I hadn't eaten breakfast. The Via Crucis started late this year and thus ended late. Two years ago, it was done before 1 p.m. so the best time really to be there is 11 a.m. And expect to walk a long distance from the welcome arch of the barangay to the crucifixion site.

For the afternoon, I visited relatives in the different old houses as they were preparing their santos for the Good Friday procession. This was the other half of the clashing cultures I was referring to. There was so much to eat but I kept my food intake down since I was fasting today. I just had some home-made pastries for my late lunch and sampelut (ginataan) for a snack in another house. Dinner was just pako (fiddlehead fern) salad and buko sherbet. To see photos of the food we ate, visit the blog of Mike Mina.

By 4 p.m., the carrozas slowly made their way to the Cathedral. When I got to the plaza, it was already hard to move around. I am amazed by the sheer volume of people who join the Good Friday procession in San Fernando. Add to that the many grand heirloom carrozas and santos, it's really a sight to behold.

Notice also that all the santos are in black. During the Holy Wednesday procession, they are dressed in their symbolic colors. But come Good Friday, they all wear black vestments as a sign of mourning.

When you stand in one area to take photos, you get to say hello to countless friends, relatives and acquaintances who pass by. I saw blogger Spanky Enriquez of the Hizon Clan who owns the image of San Pedro.

Anyway, the procession took close to two hours to complete. By the time it finished, I was just so wasted. Imagine having to endure three hours under the scorching summer sun followed by a long walk of several kilometers around the poblacion for the procession. I think I really need some rest.

Related entry
Crucifixion rites held in San Pedro Cutud every Good Friday
Holy Week practices in the Philippines
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Visita iglesia routes for Holy Thursday

I was a guest at Shop Talk on ANC this afternoon. The topic today was visita iglesia and Pia Hontiveros asked me to suggest some routes for Holy Thursday. Many people have been asking why seven churches. That custom of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday is said to originate from the early Christian practice of visiting the seven great basilicas in Rome.

As I mentioned in the show a while ago, we should try to visit heritage churches so that we get a glimpse of Philippine culture while we pray. These centuries-old churches form an inherent part of our national identity, and we must thus endeavor to preserve them for future generations of Filipinos. If you remember, we came out with a petition to the CBCP to stop the further defacing of Philippine heritage churches late last year.

Anyway, I'm posting my suggestions here for day trips around and near Metro Manila. You can also check out my destination index if you have a particular province which you want to visit or if you want to read more details about the churches I mentioned below.

In the City of Manila, check out the Manila Cathedral, San Agustin, Binondo, Sta. Cruz, Quiapo, San Sebastian, Malate and Sta. Ana. You can go further by visiting San Pedro Makati, Guadalupe and Pasig. Check out this list of heritage churches in Metro Manila for the rest.

Pampanga is an emerging visita iglesia destination. Take the San Simon exit and backtrack to the Apalit Church which is the silver dome you see from the NLEX. Then cross over to the other side and drive to the town of San Luis. Then pass by the San Fernando Cathedral, the half-buried Bacolor Church, Betis Church and its ornate white and gold retablo and marvelous wall to ceiling murals, and Lubao which is Pampanga's oldest town church. If you have time, include Angeles City, Sta. Rita or Minalin.

In Bulacan, pass by Barasoain, the Malolos Cathedral, San Rafael and Angat (although there's an explosion of gold leaf inside and new ceiling murals which do not match the original simplicity of the church).

The Laguna de Bay Loop is a very popular route. Make sure you pass by the churches in Pila, Longos (Kalayaan), Paete, Pakil and Mabitac in Laguna; and Tanay, Baras, Morong and Antipolo in Rizal.

Then there's the Mount Banahaw Loop which brings you to the provinces of Laguna, Quezon and Batangas. You can start with San Pablo, followed by Nagcarlan and Majayjay in Laguna; then to Lucban, Tayabas and Sariaya in Quezon; and finally San Juan in Batangas.

In Batangas, also check out the Cathedral and Carmelite Convent in Lipa, San Jose Church, the Immaculate Conception Basilica in Batangas City, Taal Basilica and Caysasay Shrine in Taal, and Balayan Church. You can go further to Cavite and visit the churches in Maragondon, Silang, Naic, Tanza, Kawit and Gen. Trias.

To those who have been asking how many basilicas we have in the Philippines, the answer is twelve: Agoo, La Union; Piat, Cagayan; Malolos, Bulacan; Manila Cathedral, Quiapo, San Sebastian and Binondo in Manila; Batangas City and Taal in Batangas; Tayabas, Quezon; Penafranacia, Naga City; and Sto. Nino in Cebu. You can also visit churches in the list of national cultural treasures.

Anyway, I might be in Pampanga this Holy Week checking out the violent rituals, panatas, and other Holy Week traditions. To give you a glimpse of what to see, here's a video from the Center for Kapampangan Studies:



Related entries
Visita iglesia to our heritage churches
Pisamban... the churches of Pampanga
Visita iglesia aroung Laguna de Bay
Metro Manila and its old churches
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Holy Week practices in the Philippines

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If you notice, most of our retablos are white with gold details. That's a very unique Filipino characteristic in our Spanish colonial church altars. The sad part is some priests feel they have Midas' Touch as the article puts it and paint the entire thing gold. It's horrible what they did to Argao in Cebu, Tanay, and Orion in Bataan! I hope priests put it in their heads that churches are Church property and not their own personal property. They are simply caretakers and not the owners who can do whatever they want with it.
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Angat Church heritage disaster on PDI front page
I was horrified when I saw the cover photo of the Philippine Daily Inquirer today (5 April 2007). What they did in the Angat Church was horrible! Those murals do not match the simplicity and historicity of the heritage church! Why do we have to copy murals in the Vatican? We have our own Philippine Baroque to be proud of. The sad part about publishing that heritage blunder on the front page is it will give the wrong impression to parish pastoral councils that it's a cool thing to do to their own heritage churches.

Artists can release their creative juices in a new church. But let's respect our forefathers and the artisans who built the heritage churches by keeping theirwork intact, without the explosion of gold leaf and murals which weren't originally there to begin with.

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The 2007 Philippine Blog Awards: Ivan About Town is Best Travel Blog!

Ivan About Town was named Best Travel Blog at 2007 Philippine Blog Awards! I found out about it from text messages of fellow finalists Bikoy and Karlo who were there at the event. It was depressing not being able to attend since I had wanted to meet fellow bloggers whom I've known only through their blogs. But it was physically impossible for me to travel from Batangas City to Makati in time for the event.

Again, my heartfelt gratitude goes to the organizers, judges, volunteers and fellow bloggers who made this event a great success! Do let me know when the next Pinoy bloggers' gathering is. My appreciation goes as well to all of you who take time to read what I have to say. Let's all travel around the Philippines! It's such a beautiful country! Thanks again!

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Manila: More travel notes from Manila

Today, I was at Intramuros again. I had invited my brod Bikoy Villanueva to join me and my tokayo, Ivan ManDy around Manila. We met up at the Bahay Tsinoy Museum where we got a lecture on Tsinoy History 101. From there, we walked towards the San Agustin Church since I was going to meet with Fr. Pedro Galende, director of the San Agustin Museum, regarding the plans to reconstruct the Second Monastery. It turns out, the San Agustin issue was a false alarm. The photos which circulated among cultural workers on the net are from an old design idea that never became a plan.

I mentioned to Fr. Galende that they should not have displayed those design ideas on the second floor of the museum. Anyway, the blue prints of the current plans are now on display on the first floor, an exterior reconstruction that was approved by UNESCO itself. The current design came about from several technical working group meetings with representatives from the National Museum, NHI, NCCA and IA and HCS members.

Fr. Galende was very receptive. He in fact wants feedback on the current design if there are any and requested me to relay the same to him. I posted the current plans above (there are several panels in San Agustin) for everyone's information.

From San Agustin, we decided to walk towards the Binondo area. While we were on the Jones Bridge, we saw the Pasig River Ferry docked in the Escolta Station and rushed to check it out. The next station, Sta. Ana, was just 30 minutes away so we decided to hop on board. We spent PHP25 each one-way.

There are several proposed stations along the Pasig River from Del Pan Bridge close to the mouth of the river up to Sta. Elena in Marikina. At the moment, four are already operational namely Escolta, Sta. Ana, Hulo and Guadalupe.

We weren't able to take photos during the more scenic part of the ferry ride because of security concerns. I wonder what the paranoia is all about, all these restrictions on taking photos of Malacanang. During my ferry rides in Bangkok and Singapore, I was able to take photos of the Grand Palace and Parliament House respectively. That's why I found this restriction especially absurd since after Malacanang, the river becomes black, the stench of the water becomes unbearable, and from old colonial buildings, you see the Pandacan Oil Depot, warehouses, factories, squatters and garbage among others!

From the Sta. Ana Station, we walked a few meters to the Sta. Ana Church, a national cultural treasure. The retablo is among the best in Metro Manila. In fact, I believe it's the most intact church complex in Manila with its convento and all.

After that brief tour of the church, we rushed back to the station to catch the ferry back to Escolta only to wait for thirty more minutes since the ferry was late. I hope they are able to perfect the arrival and departure times especially when more stations open. We went to the nearest Chinese restaurant along Escolta for dinner. I was craving for hot and sour soup so we ordered a bowl. We also had some siomai, beef spareribs and fried rice.

After dinner, since I was craving for dumplings, we went to Dong Bei to munch on their popular dumplings, pancakes and noodles. While we were eating, we found out our vehicles were locked inside the Bahay Tsinoy. And since they had an alarm system, we couldn't get them until the next day! So all of us had to commute home. Oh well!

Thanks to Bikoy for our photos in San Agustin and the Pasig River Ferry. Check out Bikoy.net for his account of our trip.

Heritage candidate
Val Sandiego, head of the Carcar Heritage Conservation Society, is probably the first candidate ever in the Philippines to run on a heritage-based platform. Sandiego is a candidate for Mayor in Carcar, the most important heritage town in Cebu province. More details here.

Manila: Quiapo, heart of Manila

I just came from the book launching of Quiapo: Heart of Manila. The back cover of the book reads: "Quiapo district in the City of Manila is more than the Nazarene and Quezon Boulevard. It has excelled in painting, music, cooking and the arts. It harbors landmarks which are unique in the world. It is also neighborhoods in charming 1900s settings. In revitalizing the metropolis, Manila's centuries-old districts deserve as much care as the suburbs."

The welcome message of Dr. Fernando N. Zialcita, anthropologist and professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, really set the tone for the book and Quiapo as a unique district. And it would be a pity if I did not feature excerpts here since it was very informative and at times, intriguing. Here are some interesting parts of his speech:

"If Quiapo were in Melbourne, the rich and famous would be scrambling to live in it." These are the words of Dr. Trevor Hogan, an Australian sociologist who taught some courses in urbanism at the Far Eastern University over five years ago and who loved the streets, alleys and corners of Quiapo. I run the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista center for culture in Quiapo. We get visitors from the different embassies, like the Spanish and French embassies, who come on their own. Employees in the Department of Tourism tell us that they now get many requests for information on Quiapo.

But why Quiapo? Isn't it dirty, polluted and crime-ridden? Why do foreigners enjoy exploring the side-streets?

The heart of major cities abroad is not the shopping mall, not the gated communities but districts like Quiapo, where the rich, the middle class and the poor mix together, where your place of work is close to where you live, where the streets are lively throughout the day, and where there are beautiful historical landmarks.

In addition, there are experiences unique to Quiapo. Calle Hidalgo may now be disorderly; but it still points like an arrow to San Sebastian Church. "The street is like a stage-set" exclaimed a young Italian architect. Calle San Sebastian may be a small winding street. But it has beautiful 1920s mansions over which San Sebastian rises. On special days, the entire church is lit up. If you walk around the district, you will find inspiring scenes. For instance, between the accesorias decorated with ornate balusters and grilles, you will find patios where neighbors exchange stories while sharing steaming arroz caldo.

Quiapo is where different cultures meet. The bells of Quiapo Church alternate with the sacred call to prayer at the Golden Mosque. On another street, the Ocampo Pagoda shows off Japanese icons: carp for strength, a turtle for long-life, a dragon for Imperial majesty. You can enjoy this mixed experience only in Quiapo, the heart of Manila which is the heart of the Philippines. One of the many reasons we wrote the book was to show that if Quiapo were more orderly, it will be a showpiece.

Indeed, Quiapo is a showpiece. I finally got to walk along Hidalgo Street which Butch Zialcita had always been telling us about. For the longest time, there had been plans to revitalize the street as a heritage district which was supposed to be spearheaded by the Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) located along the street. But that was ages ago.

Several years have passed. The fabled and historic Enriquez Mansion, the birthplace of the UP School of Fine Arts which was housed there from 1909 to 1926, had already been ripped out of the heritage street and transferred to that property in Bagac, Bataan leaving a large empty space in what would have been the centerpiece of the heritage street. But there is still hope if we act fast. And I hope the professors there get their acts together and start working to rehabilitate their area the same way that the Far Eastern University made a great effort to clean up and prepare a rehabilitation plan for Nicanor Reyes Street and its environs.

I missed the program at the Bahay Nakpil-Bautista along Bautista (formerly Barbosa) Street where an exhibit on Juan Nakpil, national artist for architecture, was opened. The house was designed by equally renowned architect Juan Arellano for Dr. Ariston Bautista and his in-laws, the Nakpil family. I came just in time to catch the group which included Butch, restoration architect Mico Manalo, Manila streetwalker Ivan ManDy, and bloggers Sidney Snoeck, Eric Isaac, Tito Basa among many others out of the heritage house, down Hidalgo Street (which was formerly known as Calle San Sebastian) towards the current Calle San Sebastian where the book launching was going to be held.

The street actually has several American-era houses, among them the Yturralde House, which Butch mentioned was once used as the consulate of Monaco.

Sadly, from a cultural event, it had turned into a campaign rally of the Lord Mayor of Manila. Students from the Unibersidad de Manila were there in full force serving as Lito Atienza's overacting cheering squad. Every time his name was mentioned, or when Atienza referred to the kabataan ng Maynila (youth of Manila) or UDM students in his speech, they would erupt in a choreographed applause and shout out the name of Atienza in chorus. After the program, I found out why they were there: students were scrambling to sign attendance forms! Poor kids, being used for political purposes. It was funny because the real guests, those who would have gone even if they weren't forced to attend, just sat silently every time the group of students would erupt in applause. So who did the mayor's "spin doctors" fool? Definitely not me.

Anyway, I hope that while he is not busy campaigning for his son, the mayor reads the copy of the book which Butch had given him so he would know what real heritage conservation is all about. After I got Butch to sign my book, I left in a rush since I had to catch a family dinner in Libis. Now I’m home preparing for my finals week next week. Time for me to get back to my school work.

Check out my interview on the Philippine Blog Awards in The Four-eyed Journal.

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SSEAYP 2007
Application for SSEAYP 2007 is ongoing. This is open to all Filipino citizens, 18 to 30 years old on April 1, 2007. Download the forms here. Deadline for application is April 30, 2007.