i am a Filipina and of course i live here in the Philippines hehehe and during Lenten season there are a lot of old filipino custom of atonement that are done. this starts during ash Wednesday where people go to church and have their forehead marked with cross made of ashes (originally these ashes are made from palm leaf art or palaspas in tagalog, i know this because when i was younger the church where i attend mass would announce to church goers if they can donate their palaspas for ash Wednesday but i don't know if this tradition is still done because in the church where i am now going now they don't announce it or maybe i just didn't hear it..my bad..correct me if im wrong) and this will last up to 40 days.
the atonement done includes fasting which most of the people do since this maybe considered the easiest of all. some devotees can go as extreme as carrying a huge cross on their backs like what Jesus did while some others with veil on their faces walk or march barefoot on the road and whip their selves for hours until they reach the end of their destination. some of these people also have themselves nailed or hanged on the cross which i think by far is the most extreme of all the because you may damage your hands permanently and hands are very essential to ones daily living.
people who do these are not forced. they do this out of the guilt they feel for not being a good christian. other think that doing so will relieve them or someone else's illness. it is their way of cleansing their soul from all the sins that they have done.
priests nowadays advice devotees that they may opt not to do it since it can hurt them or even kill them (mind you, the nails the use are really big and long!) but these devotees will not be stopped at any cost because they believe its a tradition done for hundreds of years and they want to honor jesus' sacrifice on the cross by reliving it.
one of the traditions done during holy week is Visita Iglesia. visita iglesia is a form of 'station of the cross' done a bit differently. instead of doing the stations in one church, devotees go to different churches for each station. its tiring but its one of the coolest thing you can do with your family or friends during holy week. i dont know why but sometimes people have given 'holy week' a whole different meaning and perspective. some people see holy week as a time for get aways far off vacations which i think is a total opposite of what is being preached at church, but who am i to judge?? all im saying is that i personally think they should not forget the real meaning of lenten season or holy week. its a time of penance and cleansing of our souls from all the sins we have done for the past year. it is the only time we get to do this. lets all be honest. some people dont even pray at night for the blessing they receive. ok m gonna STFU because i dont wanna be too preachy. LOL
anyways i started doing Visita Iglesia last year with yhan and her group of friends. being a first timer at that time, i had no idea how tiring it was going to be but we finished 7 churches. we had 2 stations per church. it was fun tiring and left me super exhausted that when i got home i didnt even manage to clean myself. my legs felt sore and i literally just fell and slept on my bed. i woke up cleaned and wearing fresh new clothes. yhan managed to clean me while i was sleeping. she wasnt as tired as i am because she's been doing it for the past 4 or 5 years already. so this year i did it with my closest friends. we were supposed to meet at sm manila but it ws closed so we opted to meet at starbuck in JP Laurel st. Roxas boulevard. then we started our visita iglesia ala team clingy :) it was a lot more exhausting since we did 14 stations but for me and yhan even if we were super exhausted we felt that it was all so worth it. to feel that you have done something even a small sacrifice, to honor what Jesus did on the cross is really overwhelming.
so thats all for our visita iglesia experience. maybe next time i will be able to give you a better video but for now you can watch our experience here:
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