Firecrackers on Easter Sunday! In the towns of Minalin and Sto. Tomas, the Pakbung Hudas (explosion of Judas) tradition is still held every Easter Sunday. We drove to Minalin to catch the Pakbung Hudas festivities at 9:30 a.m. and proceeded to Sto. Tomas to catch theirs at 12 noon.
Pakbung Hudas is an event wherein an effigy of Judas Iscariot, stuffed with firecrackers, is lit up in front of the church patio for a big bang to start the Easter Season. The firecrackers are so positioned so that the effigy moves horizontally counter-clockwise then clockwise, then vertically clockwise and counter-clockwise before finally exploding.
For some reason, they want to change the name to Pakbung Kasalanan or Pakbung Satanas with the effigy representing sin or in particular, the seven deadly sins. But I think changing the name will change the story behind the tradition. You could still say Pakbung Hudas and explain that the effigy represents sin. Oh well!
I liked the Judas effigy in Minalin which was very colorful and folksy. The one in Sto. Tomas wasn't decorated though.
Since Easter Sunday is also the town fiesta of Santo Tomas, there are a lot of activities during the day. After the Easter Mass in the morning, sagalas paraded around town. They also had a palaro for the children. The agawan buko was quite intense!
Anyway, it took them quite a while to set-up the effigy which they lit up at about 12:30 p.m. Indeed they celebrate Easter in Pampanga with a big bang!
The Salubong is a Filipino tradition done early in the morning of Easter Sunday, wherein the images of the Risen Christ and Sorrowful Mother symbolically meet in a pre-dawn procession. While many parishes have moved it to late Saturday night for convenience, the real traditional Salubong happens right before dawn.
I was actually wondering if the pusu-puso was still being used in Pampanga. I should have asked. Anyway, I watched the Salubong in San Fernando late Saturday night which was quite simple.
The Bacolor salubong or pusu-pusuan was also at midnight and they used the pusu-puso! The photo above is from Tom Joven.
The next morning, I proceeded to Minalin and Santo Tomas to witness the Pakbung Hudas Easter Sunday festivities. And lo and behold, the opened pusu-puso were hanging from the church gates! The Salubong in Minalin was at 4 a.m. while the one in Santo Tomas was at 5:30 a.m.
The puso-puso is a fine example of folk art used for the Salubong. It's basically shaped like a bud with several layers of petals made out of cardboard, papel de hapon and crepe paper. Hidden above the pusu-puso is a little girl dressed as an angel. The veiled image of the Sorrowful Mother is brought under the pusu-puso.
Layer by layer, the pusu-puso opens, raining petals and confetti on the images of the Mater Dolorosa and Risen Christ. With the opening of the last layer, doves fly out and the little girl, who sings Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia (Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia), is lowered on a swing just right over the head of the Mater Dolorosa so she could take off the veil. Once the veil is removed, fireworks are lit, the marching band starts playing and the crowd applauds. The Easter Season has begun.
Indeed, the phoenix has risen from the ashes. I decided to watch the Good Friday Santo Entierro procession in Bacolor, Pampanga by chance since there was no Good Friday procession in Guagua this year due to ongoing road construction around the center of town. It was very encouraging that the Bacolor procession is back to its old grandeur.
Over a decade ago, Bacolor was buried by lahar from Mount Pinatubo. It was a great loss for Pampanga being the province's former capital and heritage town. But one thing I like about Bacolor is the resiliency of its culture. One of the first things they raised from the buried town, even before rebuilding schools and other structures, were their monuments. The three ornate retablos in the half-buried Bacolor Church were also dug up and restored to their original glory.
It was 8 p.m. when I arrived at the Bacolor Church (Update: It now starts at 5 p.m.). The Good Friday Santo Entierro procession had not started yet since people were still lining up to venerate the crucified Christ. The halls of the church reverberated with the solemn Stabat Mater performed by local musicians and singers of a town which was once the center of arts and culture in the province. It was a very touching scene.
The procession begun with 152 pasos in black cassocks and white mozzettas, their faces covered by black veils and with wreaths on their heads, carrying symbols of Christs death and messages from Jesus' passion and death in various languages that included Kapampangan, English, Latin, Spanish and even French.
This was followed by one of the grandest Santo Entierro carrozas in the entire country. I found out that the carroza actually belonged to our family, the Joven-de Leon clan of Bacolor, and I was invited by my cousin Tom Joven (who is very much responsible for restoring the grandeur of Bacolor's church, Good Friday procession, and many more town traditions) to join the carroza for the procession.
The saints of the passion story beginning with San Pedro, and scenes from Christ's passion came in next. Although Tom told me that previously, the tableaux only came out during the Holy Wednesday procession since the Good Friday procession is a funeral participated in only by the carrozas of the individual saints. In fact, some of the tableaux carrozas, like those of the Valdes clan, only come out for Holy Wednesday.
No doubt, the Bacolor Good Friday Santo Entierro procession is one of the best examples of a traditional Filipino Holy Week procession. It's quiet and solemn. And there's no pipe-in music and prayers blasted through sound systems in the carrozas, just the voices of small groups sincerely praying the rosary along the way. The carrozas are elaborate, grand and elegant. There were no pick up trucks, owner jeeps or cars in the procession. If you want to witness a traditional Good Friday procession, I highly-recommend that you visit Bacolor, Pampanga.
At the end of the procession is the Mater Dolorosa. She is preceded by the angelic voices of a local choir and musicians who play various versions of the Stabat Mater. A solemn drum beat reminds us that this is actually a funeral dirge.
As the Mater Dolorosa returns to the church, her carroza is brought face to face with the carroza of the Santo Entierro in front of the gates of the church, a symbolic positioning signifying the Sorrowful Mother mourning over her Son.
Other processions worth visiting in Pampanga are the ones in Santa Rita, Guagua and Sasmuan. I haven't seen the one in Santa Rita and plan to witness that next year. In Guagua, I remember they had violinists who accompany the Sto. Entierro and Mater Dolorosa. The violins are something that disappeared in San Fernando after the change of priests.
As I previously mentioned, it's sad that these priests forget that they stay only in a parish for a few years. And yet some go on the rampage and destroy architecture and traditions that have been there even before they were born. Even the traditional order of carrozas of the Good Friday procession in San Fernando had been changed in deference to the whims of the new rector. I hope things go back to normal soon!
The Via Crucis passion play and crucifixions are staged annually in San Pedro Cutud, City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Despite its popularity among tourists both local and foreign alike, the local government has been making an effort to preserve as much as the tradition as possible, and keep out to much commercialism from the passion play which is written in the vernacular Kapampangan language. At least 30 percent of the crowd at San Pedro Cutud were foreigners. And it could arguably be the event most visited by foreigners owing to the international media attention it gets every year.
I decided to stay away from San Pedro Cutud this year to conserve my energy to visit other Good Friday traditions. I was actually there earlier in the morning as the crowds started to stream in. But left to get back home before I got stuck there. There are two other crucifixion sites in San Fernando in Santa Lucia and San Juan.
Pasyon Serenata is a variant of the pabasa, with two sets of accompanying singers and marching bands playing alternately in what is called a sagutan. The Pasyon Serenata is held in the evenings (usually 8 p.m. to 12 midnight) of Holy Thursday and Good Friday in two locations in Barangay San Basilio, Sta. Rita, Pampanga. One Pasyon Serenata is staged beside the San Basilio Chapel. While another one can be found in Maligaya Street.
I got to witness both the Holy Thursday and Good Friday Pasyon Serenata in San Basilio. It's really heartening to see the local community work hard to raise funds to continue this Holy Week tradition. Bringing the bands over to put on a good show, some coming from as far as Sasmuan, is not cheap. And you have to give it to the people of San Basilio for staging this annually.
The marching bands play both Filipino kundimans and international band classics. The group of ladies sing the Kapampangan pabasa to the tune of the band. It was quite amusing hearing Kapampangan verses sung along with music from the Sound of Music. But I really liked the Filipino classics which they played. Each band plays two songs at each turn, one with the pabasa singers and another featuring a brass soloist before turning over the floor to the other band. This goes on until midnight.
So after watching the grand and traditional Good Friday processions in Pampanga, you might want to head over to Brgy. San Basilio to enjoy the performances of Pampanga's best marching bands at the Pasyon Serenata.
