Palm Sunday 2014 in Laguna

The Holy Week is a (personal) gentle reminder of some of the biblical details I was able to learn during my younger years. The Palm Sunday, based on the New Testament part of the Holy Bible, is an act fulfilling the words of an Old Testament prophet:

San Pablo City, Laguna

“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Matthew 21:5 (The Holy Bible, new revised standard version, p.23, NT)

Part of welcoming Jesus was the laying of branches of trees along the road. It may have been lost in the translation or it may have been mere tradition but it has been palm leaves since time immemorial.

Palm leaves in the Philippines are still blessed as part of the mass, again part of the traditional rites. It is worth noting that these same palm leaves are the ones brunt to ashes and used for the next Ash Wednesday.

Liliw, Laguna

Nagcarlan, Laguna

 

Going through several town in Laguna on that Palm Sunday afternoon, it was good to witness the budding devotion for the week, the business on the side, and the ever-festive mood outside the churches despite the expected Good Friday commemoration.