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| The Maundy Thursday procession in Paete begins at dusk, recounting the Passion of Jesus Christ before crucifixion. The religiously images were splendidly garbed in embellished and lit carrozas. |
Jeepneys
ply the National Highway from Siniloan to Santa Cruz, the capital of Laguna.
This is the eastern route to the southern Tagalog province that hugs the lower
half the Lake of Bay, popularly called Laguna Lake, passing through the
province of Rizal. The road trip is mostly scenic with the lake on one side,
usually hemmed with rice fields, and the hills and mountains, the southern end
of the Sierra Madre range, on the other. It goes through the towns of Famy,
Pangil, Pakil, Paete, Kalayaan, Lumban and Pagsanjan, all charming and quiet.
The most interesting, perhaps, is Paete,
popularly known for its woodcarving and taka,
the craft of the papier-mache. The town, wedged in the middle of northeastern
Laguna, is also known for its Lenten traditions. Although many of these
practices are done in numerous places in the predominantly Roman Catholic
country, they are more alive here, I think, more spectacular, more dramatic or
more elaborate. Moreover, they are done almost twice as much. The traditions are
practiced by two churches—the Roman Catholic and the Philippine Independent
Church, popularly called the Aglipayan Church.
The Aglipayan Church is a breakaway group from
the Catholic church, formed in the early 1900s and co-founded by a former
Catholic priest, Gregorio Aglipay, in an attempt to established a national
church away from Spanish colonial control. Thus, its practices and beliefs are
dominantly Catholic. It is said that Paete has many Aglipayans.
While the Holy Week traditions start on Palm Sunday,
the major ones are held during Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
I arrived in Paete on Maundy Thursday, April 2,
2015, as many tourists do. It was late afternoon, and at the town plaza, a sinakulo was concluding. Jesus Christ
had already been crucified. Together with two other criminals similarly
tortured, he was drenched in fake blood that dripped to the white loincloth and
turned magenta, suggesting the use of a food coloring agent. Still, it was
intense and a bit unsettling to see. The cast then gathered onstage and
immediately dispersed, mingling with the crowd and having pictures taken.
The sinakulo
is a major part in the commemoration of the suffering, death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, which is still practiced in several parts of the country such
as Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna, Camarines Sur and even Metro Manila. The sinakulo, also spelled as cenakulo, or the passion play, tells of
the life and suffering of Jesus Christ, and is mostly staged by local
organizations, composed of members of the community, many without a background
in theater.
With
bright blood and glistening costumes, I was introduced to the Lent of Paete.
The small plaza sees the most activities during
this time. It is surrounded by the municipal hall, the Catholic church and
Aglipayan church. A rivulet, the Paete River, separates it from the Catholic
church. While most of Metro Manila slows down almost to a halt and many of its
residents stay home or fly to the provinces and beaches starting Maundy
Thursday, Paete is abuzz. Just after the sinakulo,
the Maundy Thursday procession was gearing up.
In between, I went to the old stone church. The
Church of Saint James the Apostle (Santiago Apostol) faces the lake, as many
churches in this area do, with the mountains as backdrop, the foothills of
Sierra Madre, and a sprawling front yard. It looks petite, and its being august
owes much to the lack of paint, exposing the stone make and affecting great
age. Like many churches in the Philippines, Paete’s is perhaps the oldest
structure in town and is definitely a major heritage structure. The sun
burnishes it with gold and russet during sunset while the moon rises behind it.
The
heritage church suffered damages and series of rebuilding since the first stone
church was erected in early 18th century. The facade is ornate with carvings of
leaves and flowers, attributed to local artisans. Above the door is the relief
of St. James, depicted as Santiago Matamoros (St. James, the Slayer of Moros).
The roof is embellished with series of finials shaped like curly waves.
Upon
entering the church, three imposing paintings are most noticeable, some of the
old treasures of the church—two paintings of Saint Christopher and a depiction
of heaven, earth and hell, attributed to Paetenian painter Josef Luciano Dans.
Saint Christopher paintings, which depict the saint carrying the child Jesus
across the river, are interesting. One is painted on wood panels. This was what
many people know about for many years until it was brought down from the wall,
revealing a mural underneath, considered older. While both depict similar
scene, the saints were rendered differently. One can only surmise the reasons
why a new painting was done to cover the original mural. What is plain to see
is the paintings have suffered damages and are in dire need of conservation.
Outside, the statues of saints and Biblical
characters were lined up along Juan V. Quesada Street, Paete’s major road named
after its first mayor. They were finely dressed and were placed on carrozas or floats that were bedecked
with ruffles, tassels, ribbons, wood carvings, fresh flowers, etc. Each carried
their own lamps, in different shapes and designs, that illumined the images
through the dark night. The float of the Hesus
sa Banal na Eukaristiya or Jesus of the Holy Eucharist was laden with real
bread, punctuated with grapes. Even the cordon was made of pieces of bread
strung together.
The line-up of religious statues took up a
whole block of the street riddled with quaint shops, souvenir stores and
eateries. There were about fifty or more icons. People thronged to the place,
and the narrow street looked like a fair. The processions on Maundy Thursday
and Good Friday are like pageantry. The Roman Catholic and the Aglipayan
processions are mounted simultaneously, equally attractive and impressive. They
illumined the whole town center as they wind their ways through the narrow
streets. Even the heavens participated. The sunset painted the sky mauve and
pale fuchsia while a little later the mountains let go a spectral moon.
The Maundy Thursday procession is inspired by
the Passion of the Christ, telling the story before the crucifixion. The Paete
procession is distinctive with salubongs,
literally “meetings,” the points where two characters/images meet and sort of
have a dialogue, which is chanted. The images, particularly the heads and arms,
are made to move like puppets. The
salubong is enacted three times: at the market, where Mary wipes Jesus’
face; at the Plaza Edesan, where Veronica wipes Jesus’ face; and at the plaza,
where Veronica shows the three miraculous impressions of Jesus’ faces on her
veil to Mary, who also shows her own impressions.
While joining the Maundy Thursday procession,
we chanced upon a very quaint shop, decorated with small ball lanterns made of
paper, and stopped for a while. The owner, Lino Dalay, was watching the
procession with her old mother. Chatty and amiable, he invited us in and
related he was a production and costume designer for films such as Halimaw sa Banga. When movie production
slowed down, he packed his bags, costumes and props, and went home to Paete,
opening a shop called Ang Buhay at Hugis ng Paete. The shop specializes in wood
carvings and taka products as well as
in using recycled materials. The place is bursting with colorful curios,
knickknacks, masks, toys, home decors, etc., made with either paper or wood,
particularly batikuling. The owner
also founded a community theater group called Buwig Teatro ng Paete, which
staged his original play based on the legend on how the lanzones or langsat, a fruit Paete is also known for, became sweet
and edible. It was pinched by a mysterious woman, making the once poisonous
fruit edible for the townspeople to enjoy, the folktale tells. Some say she was
the Virgin Mary in disguise. Dalay insisted she was a sister of the two diwatas of popular legends, Maria
Makiling and Maria Sinukuan. Unnamed, he calls her Ang Babaeng Kumurot, the Woman Who Pinched.
Beside Ang Buhay at Hugis ng Paete is a
delightful coffee shop and gallery, the Kape Kesada Art Gallery. The handsome
shack made of wood and reclaimed pieces of old houses was bright inside with
paintings and sculptures. The chairs were of the batibot kind and old capiz-shell
windows were repurposed as dividers. The café has a spacious front yard,
covered with gravel and accentuated with plants and trees. It has the only open
space in the town center. It has the tallest tree in the town center, boasted
the owner, a dentist and art lover, who was busy watching the procession.
Just across the street, a house sheltered the
Santo Entierro, literally “holy burial,” the statue of the dead Jesus Christ.
The home was open for anyone who wanted to pay respect or pray. Popularly
called “Senyor,” “Mahal na Senyor” or “Senyor Sepulkro,” the image had been
readied for the Good Friday procession, which is more dramatic. Like most of
the statues in the procession, the Santo Entierro is privately owned and cared
for by a family, passed on from one generation to another. The owner or keeper
is called “rekamadero.” The Santo
Entierro is said to be oldest statue in the town, even older than the church.
It is said to have been brought by Spanish friars from Mexico in the sixteenth
century.
Paete’s most important statue had undergone
ceremonies in preparation for the procession such as ritual “bathing.” It is
treated with utmost care as if it is a real holy corpse. The bathing water is a
combination of lambanog, the strong
arrack made from coconut blossom sap of the Tagalogs, and agua de coloña. During the bathing on Holy Wednesday, after days of
vigil, the image, which has movable parts, is made to sit on a chair. The
clothes are reverently removed and the head covered with a scarf. It is
carefully cleaned with balls of cotton. Afterwards, it is placed inside a
makeshift tent or kubol of wood and
white cloth for the pagsusuod or
smoking. The Santo Entierro is then smoked with incense or dried langsat
peelings. The practice is reminiscent of embalming traditions of Cordilleran
ethnic groups. The statue is dressed in new clothes and covered with glimmering
blanket. The praying of the novena accompanies all these, which take about five
hours. The leftover bathing mix, believed to be sacred and miraculous, is put
in small bottles to be distributed among devotees.
On Good Friday, the Santo Entierro is fetched
by a group of boys and men, who will bring it to church. These boys, all in
white shirts, serve as pallbearers throughout the procession.
Inside
the church on Good Friday afternoon, the Siete
Palabras or Seven Last Words were recited. Several parishioners related
their emotional journeys to redemption, their struggles, their testaments of
faith.
The religious statues or poons started to gather by the side of the church, most of them
bearing the faces of grief and mourning, with crystalline tears on the cheeks.
Encased in glass, the Santo Entierro was parked inside the church, by the
entrance, surrounded by the boys. Behind it was the Mater Dolorosa, the
Sorrowful Mother, dressed in black.
The Mater Dolorosa is another important
religious statue of the town. Very old, it is said to be a replica made by
prominent town sculptor Mariano Cagahastian Madriñan of his own original work, Mater Dolorosa, which was exhibited at
an international exposition in Amsterdam and received a gold medal in 1882.
At the same time, the Aglipayans were at their
own church, with their own Santo Entierro and Mater Dolorosa, which was in
luminous white, and retinue of boys.
As the sun set, the Catholic statues passed by
the front of the church to be blessed by the priest with holy water, amidst
billows of incense. Each was introduced to the gathered people, starting with
the twelve apostles. The introduction included the horrific and eccentric ways
they died.
“Siya ay
binalatan nang buhay...” (He was flayed alive…)
“Siya ay
inihagis mula sa tore, at nang makitang buhay, siya'y pinagbabato at pinalo
hanggang mamatay...” (He was thrown from a tower, and when found still
alive, was stoned and clubbed to death…)
“Siya ay
biniting patiwarik at hinati ang katawan gamit ang lagari…” (He was hanged
upside down and sawed in half…)
“Siya ay
inihagis sa kumulong langis ngunit siya ay himalang nabuhay. Siya ang
pinakahuling namatay sa mga apostoles, namatay dahil sa katandaan…” (He was
thrown into boiling oil, but miraculously survived. He was the last of the
apostles to die, dying from old age…)
The moon, the one before the blood moon, was
already rising above the church.
When the introduction of the saints was
finished, the church was opened to reveal a resplendent and brightly lit Santo
Entierro, and the striking Mater Dolorosa. The younger boys made noise with
instruments made of bamboo tubes or wood, called matraka, from the Spanish matraca,
meaning “rattle.” The Santo Entierro carriers formed a very tight group and
swayed as they walked as if the Santo Entierro was dancing.
The two processions went around the town
center, taking different routes and seldom bumping into each other. Many
spectators and visitors followed both, especially the Santo Entierro, going
through dark alleyways and streets, like going through a maze.
The poons
not included in the procession were displayed on house fronts or windows.
The Good Friday procession was a longer one,
ending by eleven in the evening at the town plaza, where people snatched up the
flowers that adorned the carrozas,
particularly the Santo Entierro.
After this, the Paetenians would prepare for
the Easter Sunday Mass, in which the male parishioners are separated from the
female. Each group would escort statues of the Risen Christ and the Virgin
Mary, which will meet in the middle of the churchyard.
After resting our tired feet and eating lugaw and tokwa, we decided though to return to Metro Manila. We took a
jeepney to Famy to catch a bus going from Infanta, Quezon, to Manila. At one in
the morning, we were at a junction in Famy. The boys eating balut at a stall was talking about a man
who had just been stabbed. Drunk teenage boys lounged by a street island and a
monument, talking loudly and speeding off with their skateboards. A group
arrived, bought beer at a 7-Eleven store and drank outside. A girl, who seemed
to be with Down’s syndrome, was singing her lungs out at one dark corner. A
couple arrived and seated near us at the bus terminal. The man shouted at the
woman for nagging or something. The woman, with peroxide blonde hair, talked
about leaving his boyfriend. The child she was carrying began having tantrums.
By the dark road going Manila, there has a huge sign, the logo of Red Horse, a
local beer brand which had become a rite of passage for many, including mine.
It was uncharacteristically cold that morning. Maybe it was the breeze from the
mountain. Maybe it was from the coming typhoon. I cradled a souvenir from
Paete, a miniature red taka horse, a
reminder of childhood and innocence, and now of spectacle, sacrifice and
sanctity.
