2013 Good Friday Procession in San Pablo City, Laguna

After battling with the usual laziness, here are the photos from the recently concluded Good Friday procession here in San Pablo City, Laguna.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will skip giving any comments on the photos but will stick on a few recollections about this annual event. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

As a child I remember being lifted on the shoulders of elders just to get a view of the passing carozzas. Obviously, these carozzas carry figures which depict a scene in the last few days of Christ as stated in the New Testament. The life of Christ may be that common but the procession of those scenes as taken the form of an activity more than simply tradition. This annual procession has turned into a combination of unidentified or even blurred devotion where we see people making the usual pag-hila where you get to pull a carozza. It was good to see people scolding the others not to smoke while doing the pag-hila but I think it would be better if they’ll have their respective reasons – religious ones in this case – for doing those activities. I cannot call them sacrifices because I learned many years ago that people – believer or not – get paid in for pulling the carrozas.

                

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

But such events are not completely devoid of devotees. Elders, complete with their paraphernalia, are also a constant presence in this procession. I may not remember it well but I found it surprising that along the procession there is role-playing scene of some sort where there is a person depicting carrying a cross while other stood as Roman soldiers complete with onlookers, something which I have not seen before. Or maybe it was present but I did not see it. (Sadly enough, some of these onlookers gesture maliciously to the waiting crowd which, Christian or no Christian, is something indecent.) I think the carozzas would be enough representations for this procession.
   

 

 

 

 

 

  

In the end, I personally hope that we had the time for reflection last week. As I have noted to some friends, we are free to choose our own form of reflections. It need not be limited to fasting or prayer. It need not even be limited to Holy Week. What’s good with this high Catholic holiday is that we get a longish time for religious activities (and this applies to many Christian denominations) and also – and this I think is the real perk here – a longish time for relaxation and travel.