Holy Week: It’s more fun in the Phl

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines  â€” Thousands of local and foreign visitors are expected to flock to Pampanga this Holy Week to witness traditional Lenten practices in the province, the City Tourism Office said yesterday.

Dubbed the “Holy Week Spectacle in the Philippines,” provincial authorities have prepared an itinerary for visitors that will start off with witnessing flagellants in Barangay San Pedro Cutud on Wednesday morning.

Maundy Thursday will be devoted to the Pabasa ng Pasyon or nonstop chanting of texts on the life and passion of Jesus Christ in chapels in San Fernando and Angeles City.

Tourists can witness a procession of flagellants heading to church for their “final journey” and for prayers.

On Good Friday, tourists will witness the Via Crucis or the Way of the Cross, the 51-year-old street drama on the passion of Christ performed by local residents in San Pedro Cutud.

At noon, seven to ten penitents will be crucified in San Pedro Cutud, an event which highlights the Holy Week celebration and is witnessed by thousands.

Another crucifixion takes place around 2 p.m. at Barangay Lourdes Northwest in Angeles City.

On the program for Black Saturday is shopping for Kapampangan delicacies, arts and crafts in San Fernando, San Matias, and Mexico.

And at dawn on Easter Sunday, tourists are invited to join the most elaborate Salubong, a reenactment of the meeting of Christ and His mother Mary after His resurrection. It will start at 4 a.m. at the Sta. Maria Parish Church in Balibago, Angeles City.

There’s also a whole-day festivity on Easter Sunday in Sto. Tomas town, with the Sabuaga festival featuring the showering of petals on the image of the Virgin Mary. Petals and confetti will rain down on the whole route of the procession around the poblacion, as residents from the town’s seven barangays gather for street dancing.

Festivities starting at 2 p.m. include a trade fair, variety shows and a fireworks display in the evening.

Tourism officials said the Via Crucis was first performed in 1955 by volunteer arists of San Pedro Cutud.