Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I'm looking forward to our annual holy week retreat to my hometown in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Since I was a little girl, days spent in Laguna especially during the Lenten Season, are filled with lots of activities with my siblings and cousins. We are never used to having grand vacations during this season as my lolo and lola would never allow us to go anywhere but the church. They say that we have all summer to do our picnincs and outings and Lent is the only time we have for the Lord and this is non-negotiable, period. So, as we get older, I guess the tradition kind of continued up to now with my titas overseeing the family's lenten activities. Now that i'm married, I got to appreciate all the nice things and good spritual values that my lolo and lola had instilled on us. And for this year, I am quite excited to go home, see my relatives esp. my cousins and continue with the family's tradition namely:
- Maundy Thursday: Visita Iglesia / Blessed Sacrament Vigil - we used to do this together with the whole family but since my dad and titos and titas are now somewhat "older" and some can't join the visits to far places, we just dedicate on hour or so in our church where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and say our prayers. We call this our Vigil.
- Good Friday - we join the whole town in the "Daang Krus ng Bayan", a traditional Way of the Cross that starts at the town's boundary and ends in the church. Mind you, we start early here as in 5 in the morning! I've been doing this for the past 3 years na and even though it's tiring, I got a very nice feeling afterwards. The whole day we follow the abstinence from meat and take one full meal. Yes only one meal lang and the rest is small portion lang sometimes none nga eh. Hay. Sakripisyo talaga but really worth it at least for me. In the afternoon till evening, we join the Prusisyon ng Bayan. Now this is fun coz all of us including my cousins participate in this event. Imagine us lined up in the "prusisiyon"and making "kulitan" while walking. We're Bad!
- Black Saturday - we don't do much here since according to the oldies "patay pa ang Dyos" so no merry making, no loud noise, no singing, etc. This is our rest day from the activities of the past two days. We basically stay at home watch movies or sometimes when my titas will allow it, we go swimming :) Pero lately na lang yun ha! Dati, my lolo would never allow us to go somewhere else.
- Easter Sunday - when we were small we used to participate in the "salubong" but now we hardly join na kasi you have to wake up early to do so. As in 4 in the morning! So we just attend the Easter Sunday Mass (which is very important) and had a sumptuos lunch after. The day is not complete without our annual Egg-Hunting activity in our compound spearheaded by my tita. Would you believe, I still join this contest? Di ako papatalo talga! Anyway, may different age level naman ang game so the young ones will not be "dehado".
That's basically how we observe Lent and this year nothing much will change I guess. But nevertheless, i'm looking forward to it as this is my family's time to reconnect and spend time together and of course, reflect on our own lives and give thanks to the Great Guy above for all the sufferings He made for us.
I wish everyone a meaningful Holy Week. Take Care everyone.
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