I’m sure you have heard or saw this t.v. clip from Desperate Housewives. It has been on the local news for the past few weeks and ‘til now, it hasn’t come to a halt. Teri Hatcher is now very famous for the Filipinos for its line on the series mocking Philippine medical school, well some, not in general. It has earned a lot of protest and negative reactions from the Filipinos, especially in U.S., to the point that some made a petition to ban the said show.

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The Holy Week observance of the town Sto. Tomas, Pampanga is truly unique. The Semana Santa is the most joyful and colorful event in the town, it is a tradition the town of Sto. Tomas is proud of. The holy week observance this year started with the nine days novena and mass for the Mater Dolorosa. After the nine days novena, there was a procession for the Virgen Dolorosa en route to the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle. A Misa Concelebrada was held for the Feast of the Mater Dolorosa wherein the Estabats were part of the procession later in the evening. The Estabats were 12 young ladies dressed in formal gowns during the procession of Mater Dolorosa, Holy Wednesday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. They were also trained to sing and have choreographed acts especially at Easter Sunday, accompanied by a violinist. The Mater Dolorosa Oficiales were consist of the Hermana Mayora, the main head; Mayordoma, in charge of the Misa Concelebrada and musical bands; and the Secretaria, in charge of the meal after the Misa Concelebrada. The election of the next Mater Dolorosa Oficiales took place at the Hermana Mayora?s house, after the meal.

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In commemoration of the death of Christ on Biyernes Santo, there was a re-enactment of the station of the cross wherein the people who joined the procession were barefoot. The Easter Sunday is the most anticipated and celebrated day of the Holy Week because Christ has risen from the dead. The procession at 4:30 in the morning ushered the beginning of the event. The procession took place from the two parochial chapels of Sto. Tomas ? the San Vicente chapel which had the image of the Risen Christ and from the San Bartolome chapel ? the Virgin Mary. It was also called the ?Salubong? wherein the images of the Risen Christ and the Virgin Mary met after the ?Pusu-pusuan?. The ?Pusu-pusuan? is a huge man-made case apparently heart-shaped decorated and placed usually above and in front of the Church. Annually, a young girl is chosen to become an angel who would be put inside the ?Pusu-pusuan?. It has multiple layers which can be opened after each song of the angel. When the last layer was opened, the angel was sent down carefully to pick up the black veil of the Virgin Mary which was covered unto her face symbolizing her grief over Christ?s death.

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After the 6 a.m. mass, the procession or parade of the Risen Christ followed. It is the highlight of the event mainly because of the Sagala. The Sagala consists of chosen males and females dressed in beautiful gowns and barongs. First on the parade was the ?ati-atihan?, signaling the beginning of the parade. Few meters away were the Ciriales and their escorts, whom each carried cross symbols; the Banderada and her escort were on the middle; followed by the 12 Estabats, little girls as angels and a boy as the Oncesario; then the Atlung Maria (Three Marias) with their escorts, the middle of which served as the Ciru Pascual; then the image of the Risen Christ and Virgin Mary; and lastly, the musical bands. The parade would pause at designated places wherein the Estabats would form a circle to sing and wave their hands unto the air and then dropped petals of flowers toward the end of the song.

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At 12 noon, people gathered at the Plaza to witness the ?explosion? of Judas? body replica wherein mostly, the children were the ones enjoying the show. And at night, there was a jamboree in celebration also of the feast day of St. Thomas the Apostle. Balikbayans and relatives usually from Manila go back to Sto. Tomas every Holy Week to witness this truly one of a kind celebration and commemoration of the Passion and Death of Christ.

The Holy Week observance of the town Sto. Tomas, Pampanga is truly unique. The Semana Santa is the most joyful and colorful event in the town, it is a tradition the town of Sto. Tomas is proud of. The holy week observance this year started with the nine days novena and mass for the Mater Dolorosa. After the nine days novena, there was a procession for the Virgen Dolorosa en route to the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle. A Misa Concelebrada was held for the Feast of the Mater Dolorosa wherein the Estabats were part of the procession later in the evening. The Estabats were 12 young ladies dressed in formal gowns during the procession of Mater Dolorosa, Holy Wednesday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. They were also trained to sing and have choreographed acts especially at Easter Sunday, accompanied by a violinist. The Mater Dolorosa Oficiales were consist of the Hermana Mayora, the main head; Mayordoma, in charge of the Misa Concelebrada and musical bands; and the Secretaria, in charge of the meal after the Misa Concelebrada. The election of the next Mater Dolorosa Oficiales took place at the Hermana Mayora?s house, after the meal.

In commemoration of the death of Christ on Biyernes Santo, there was a re-enactment of the station of the cross wherein the people who joined the procession were barefoot. The Easter Sunday is the most anticipated and celebrated day of the Holy Week because Christ has risen from the dead. The procession at 4:30 in the morning ushered the beginning of the event. The procession took place from the two parochial chapels of Sto. Tomas ? the San Vicente chapel which had the image of the Risen Christ and from the San Bartolome chapel ? the Virgin Mary. It was also called the ?Salubong? wherein the images of the Risen Christ and the Virgin Mary met after the ?Pusu-pusuan?. The ?Pusu-pusuan? is a huge man-made case apparently heart-shaped decorated and placed usually above and in front of the Church. Annually, a young girl is chosen to become an angel who would be put inside the ?Pusu-pusuan?. It has multiple layers which can be opened after each song of the angel. When the last layer was opened, the angel was sent down carefully to pick up the black veil of the Virgin Mary which was covered unto her face symbolizing her grief over Christ?s death.

After the 6 a.m. mass, the procession or parade of the Risen Christ followed. It is the highlight of the event mainly because of the Sagala. The Sagala consists of chosen males and females dressed in beautiful gowns and barongs. First on the parade was the ?ati-atihan?, signaling the beginning of the parade. Few meters away were the Ciriales and their escorts, whom each carried cross symbols; the Banderada and her escort were on the middle; followed by the 12 Estabats, little girls as angels and a boy as the Oncesario; then the Atlung Maria (Three Marias) with their escorts, the middle of which served as the Ciru Pascual; then the image of the Risen Christ and Virgin Mary; and lastly, the musical bands. The parade would pause at designated places wherein the Estabats would form a circle to sing and wave their hands unto the air and then dropped petals of flowers toward the end of the song.

At 12 noon, people gathered at the Plaza to witness the ?explosion? of Judas? body replica wherein mostly, the children were the ones enjoying the show. And at night, there was a jamboree in celebration also of the feast day of St. Thomas the Apostle. Balikbayans and relatives usually from Manila go back to Sto. Tomas every Holy Week to witness this truly one of a kind celebration and commemoration of the Passion and Death of Christ.

This is an article wrote by my late father, Joe Marquez on his column in The Voice, a newspaper published weekly in the province of Pampanga and Angeles City, dated March 27-April 2, 1994. He was also, a columnist in The Sunstar, Pampanga Times, and Manila Times. I want to publish and share what he had written about the celebration of Holy Week in our town, Sto. Tomas.

Every Holy Week I always remember what my grandmother used to tell me, when I was still a small boy, about this most solemn and longest of religious occasion.

My grandmother ? Telesfora Dino Bondoc ? was a young beautiful woman during the turbulent years of the revolutionary period, the last decade of the 19^th century which saw the intense struggle of the nation to free itself from the clutches of a foreign colonizer.

She was no Maria Clara, but she was among the most beautiful women of our town of Sto. Tomas, then a place quite known for its pretty women. And she had a very beautiful singing voice too.

During those days, she would tell me, people were deeply religious. At the start of Ash Wednesday ? the day that ushers in the beginning of the Lenten Season-up to Easter Sunday, when Christ rises from the dead, people would work and eat sparingly.

People, she said, would store food, water and firewood for Holy Week and they would never work during the entire week except for very menial jobs.

She said people in her town would stay most of the time in their homes, spend the whole day in intense prayers and recite the ?Pasion? in soulful incantation.

Abstinence and fasting, she said, were religiously observed by the people and partaking of pork and meat during those days was considered a mortal sin.

The rural folk, even the not so religious, would never take a bath on Holy Friday, as they regarded water on this particular day as ?dead.?

My grandmother also used to tell me that during Holy Week, there was a complete solitude prevailing in the air, the atmosphere was somber and had a tint of sacredness. The people, she said, were at peace, life was simple and there was no hurry in the daily struggle for existence.

On Eastern Sunday, she said, people would come out of their homes in their best dress, join in the rejoicing and exultation of the faithful to the heavenly meeting of Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ after He has risen from the Dead.

My grandmother, orphaned at an early age, got married in 1899, a year before the turn of the century. She was forced to marry our grandfather, an unschooled farmer, after he touched and embraced her.

Our grandparents had five children, one of whom became the first lawyer in our town from the old University of the Philippines in Manila.

Grandmother died in 1958 at the ripe age of 86. My grandfather died two years later at age 88.

My mother, the eldest of the children, never went to school. Widowed at the height of the Second World War, she reared and raised us ? seven children ? the best she could. She died in 1987 at age 87.

Today, as I silently pause and reflect on the observance of Holy Week, I could easily discern that time has, in deed, rapidly changed. Gone were the days of my grandmother when people would observe the Lenten season with pious devotion and intense solemnity.

Gone also were the old ways of marking the season and in their stead are the modern versions of observing Holy Week. Of course, the cenaculos are still here, the hundreds of flagellants, the penitents re-enacting Christ?s crucifixion. But, if I had my own way, I would prefer the way people observed Holy Week during the time of my grandmother.

I am not a religious man. But the way I see it today, some people appear to be fast drifting away from their Creator and Saviour, and I begin to wonder if the entire world is now beginning to forget Christ?s love for all humanity.