Biernes Santo 2011

While most people I know were in Boracay or Hongkong, taking advantage of the Lent holidays, you would find me and my girls tagging along at my husband's hometown in Cavite. Take note, not for an outing but to observe the Holy Friday the way a Catholic should do. With the long hours of masses and long queue of processions. Always! Annually! It has been like this since the first year I changed my surname. More than 16 years or so. . haha. Do I sound complaining?/?

A bit. . yeah. . It's just that, no matter how soooo Catholic my upbringing ( I even graduated from a exclusive for girls Catholic college) was, I am no way fanatically traditional.. Just like the family I married to. You know, if I would have my way, I'd rather spend the Holy Week in a quiet place of our choice, spend hours for spiritual reflections and give my working husband who is usually tired at this time of the year, a vacation he deserves.. instead of the assigned task he carries for almost decades now as "apostoles" and has to attend all the traditional roles. We are practically tied-up to this tradition up to when? I don't know! Those 16 years, there were irking thoughts. There was a time that it was my birthday, I was pregnant and nearing delivery. But had to be left alone at home cos the husband had to do the task. There were others but too many to mention. My husband has 3 older siblings, all married with kids of their own. None of them, goes to the same parents' church. The two are born-agains and the other one is based abroad.

Husband would lighten the issue with thoughts and love for his parents, way out of the tradition. He thought it would be too much for his kind parents ( I actually love my parents-in-law), if he too would take his back away from this church which the parents breath and live for. He has to do it, no one in the family would, anyway. I, on the other hand, treat it as a sacrificial note which in a way the Lent Season calls for, isn't it?




In the long run, I had taught myself to live with it. Diverted my attention to enjoy the Lent scenes which the old town of Bacoor is rich. I actually can recommend this town in Cavite as one of the best place to observe the culture during this season in the country. Why not_ the town doesn't only have one main church but three. And it's so near from Manila. The peak which happens on Holy Friday procession is spectacular cos of the countless beautiful carted statues participating the procession around the town.




And never to forget, this is also where the famous "halo-halo"of Digman can be found. see here

It's given that we had to arrive so much earlier than the procession time which would be around past 5pm. Why?. .cos the main road would be closed before that and no cars could enter the town anymore, not until the street activities had ended. It was actually a ok cos we have time to roam around the town which at this point is preparing the statues for the big procession.




buying candles is a must

In this town, presentation of the heritage statues of the saints is b-i-g! I even heard that most owners hire florist talents to do the flowers of the carts. They usually use fresh flowers in massiveness. The statues' gowns are also treated like reinas' gowns in a Santacrusan, sometimes even grander.

Chandelier lights surrounded the statue and complimented the awesome floral arrangements.

And when the sky gets  dim, the magnificent collections of statues of Jesus, Mary and other saints float around the streets of the town. The sight is so beautiful.

Most of them are hugely more than life size and really magnetic in their own way.




I actually see them annually, but they never failed to amaze me. Last year I posted a different set of these statues. see here.

the apostoles

This is for me, the best spot to take photos of the procession, with the historical bahay na bato as the background.

There are actually many other characters in this procession. Most of them participate in the name of beliefs and tradition.

Supposedly the body of Christ. . who is the main character of the procession.




I envy the faith of these people. . .can move mountains. . .

I have to confess (please don't hate me. . .) my indifference to the way faithful believers kiss and caress the statues, believing that the acts would bring them miracles. .Well, who am I to judge them anyway. They might be right , you know.

Let me say, I'm not traditional but I have this deep faith to God, only me could comprehend. . I'm sure we are all different in our own ways. . let's respect each other.

Visita Iglesia 2011

We are now in the middle of Lent Season/ Holy Week. The peak would be on Holy Friday which traditionally Catholic church commemorates Jesus' death by special masses, way of the cross, processions and many do their "visita iglesia" on the eve of this day. Churches welcome churchgoers and basically open their doors til' dawn before Black Saturday. I, however, personally haven't done a single visita iglesia in my not-so-religious life which in our lay man term means church hopping.
I do, however, always make sure to visit first the town church everytime I get to land in a new place. I flipped over my archives and realized I had only posted less than 5 church blogs against the countless number of church I've visited . This is because taking photos is not a respectable thing to do inside a church. Thus prevented me to feature the beautiful churches around our predominantly Catholic country.
For quite sometime (about 1/2 year), recent photos I took of San Agustin Church and Manila Cathedral have been sitting on my files. As mentioned, I'm not comfortable taking photos inside a holy church, so the following images are mostly church facades but grandiose just the same.

So for Ascertain Bliss' visita iglesia 2011 let's take a glance of San Agustin Church. I'm sure many of us have attended a wedding held in this famous historical church in one time or another. Known as the oldest church still standing in the Philippines, built in the late 15th century, this church is found inside the equally historic Intramuros, Manila.

I know you think what I thought. . the facade doesn't look any old. With the bright paint and all, but history recalls how many times this church had been damaged by earthquakes, looted by different forces, destroyed by fire and war and had undergone rebuilding countless times.

There was a wedding ceremony being held when we dropped by at San Agustin. We dared not to go further inside cos obviously in our jeans and shorts that we were not part of the entourage/guests.




For those who haven't been inside this grand church, I borrow a photo and above is how fab the inside is. Now you know why this is a favorite wedding church of the Filipinos.

On the side note, the church contains the tomb of Spanish conquerors like Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (sounds history book familiar, right?), he is the founder of city of Manila. Their bones are buried in a communal vault near the main altar. One of the lay persons whose remains are housed within this church is our history book famous painter_ Juan Luna.








I actually have a big thing for old intricate church doors so here I grabbed a photo of San Agustin main door. I have lots of photos of this door I took many years ago and some lately. But they are lost now in my crowded files.

Now we hop to Manila Cathedral which is located walking distance to San Agustin church inside Intramuros Manila.




Another wedding church favorite, this church is like the queen of Catholic churches in the country in terms of grandeur and popularity.

Again, there was a wedding ceremony going on that prevented us to go inside.I did , however, attended in the past , wedding ceremony masses here of my relatives and friends, even been part of the entourage more than once.




Borrowed this image from the church website, for those who haven't been inside.

I told you I have a thing for old intricate doors. .




This church got intensely intricate carved wood doors, so grand!!!








When it comes to architecture, I'd say Manila Cathedral comes a winner.




Ooops... I know. . .I'm running away from the spiritual essence of visita iglesia. I just want really to introduce to you the churches then it's up to you now. I'm not even sure if these two grand churches are open for visita iglesia. Atleast, we all had a glimpse of them even only virtually spiritual.

Hey, if you want to continue visita iglesia ala Ascertain Bliss, I got more church post here :

The Dome of the Apostles
The Luminous Sanctuary
The Church of Lucban
The Penafrancia Basilica Minore

God Bless us all.