Good day everyone, this is your cutetastic friend from Bacolod. For today's blog I want to share what we have done this holy week 2024. Holy week( Semana Santa) here in the Philippines is believed to be Sacred, we believe in this time our Savior was dead..
During these days, we perform many traditional practices such as not eating meat other than fish, staying at home and having a rest day (no outdoor activities) since most people believe having scars , wounds or any injury within these weeks is said hard to heal (in our own dialect we call these Pamalandong). Also the different tv stations in the Philippines will don't perform their normal routine, there is no live performance, they only show different movies that brings important knowledge that is related to Holy week. Also one of the events that people do is Visita Iglesia and Parade of saint/Procession.
So what is Visita Iglesia? What is Procession?
Procession or Parade of Saints is a practice we do since when i was a child. Every saint symbolizes different meanings and fortunes. For this year the parade only comprises a statue of Jesus Christ carrying a large Cross, Sta. Maria Salome, His image before being crucified, his image during crucifixion. The Procession happens in different Parish, church and even in chapels. The statue Parade's on different Parish or church represented. The parade of Saint started from the house of the statue's owner up to the church they belong to. In this way catholic people express their love for Jesus Christ, Procession usually starts at 4 pm in the afternoon, the people who joined the parade bring candles and they light it up. They will join the path of the statue before it reaches its final destination which is the church.
When entering the church you will immediately see people lined up to the image of Crucified Jesus Christ, they will pray while touching the image, they also put their handkerchief to the image as they believe this is one way of expressing their love.
Basically, Visita Iglesia happens during Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Visita Iglesia is one of the practices that we perform. Roman Catholic people went to church and attended the mass, after the mass was finished we lined up to the altar and had a chance to view the image of Jesus Christ laying on the table. We practice these kinds of traditions to express our love and gratitude for Jesus Christ who sacrificed his own life to save us from Enternal death.The holy week ends on Sunday, they call it Easter Sunday, this is the day where Jesus Christ is believed to be resurrected after his crucifixion on Friday. Holy week is a week where we give our full time for our Savior. Holy week also reminds us the sacrifices Jesus Christ had made in order to save us.
This ends my holy week blog. Thank you for reading and see you on my next blog, this is you cutetastic friend Jelay.
