Religious processions, introduced over four hundred years ago by our Spanish conquistadors, were held to mark the important feast days of our Christian religious calendar. The Lenten season, Christmas and town fiestas were major causes for ceremonials, and a holy procession, with all its pomp and pageantry, was essential to these celebrations.

The first documented procession was held to commemorate the recovery of the Santo Niño at Cebu, from a fire set by local villagers as they retreated from Miguel  Lopez de Legazpi’s advancing forces. It was, in fact, a very simple affair: the santo was transported on foot from the San Agustin church to the site where it was found, followed by a throng of citizens assembled by the town councilor or regidor. This was followed by a host of festivities like bullfights, dance balls and fireworks display.

Accounts abound of early processions that were characterized by opulence that matched a people’s religious fervor. A Lumban, Laguna procession in the 1600, for instance, was described by Franciscan Felix de la Huerta as featuring decorations of pure gold and diamonds from affluent residents of nearby Nagcarlan, Majayjay and Liliw. Carrozas of rattan were encrusted with more gold and precious stones while lamps that lit the parade weighed 75 pounds. The Dominican celebration of La Naval, which commemorates the 17^th century Spanish-Filipino victory against the Dutch, was held with Our Lady of the Rosary as the focal point of the procession. Borne on a flower-bedecked silver carroza, the image was processioned around Intramuros and back, with barefoot penitents in attendance. The 17^th century Mexican-made image of  Nuestro Padre Jesus de Nazareno, the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, has His own processions conducted every January 9, with Manila’s menfolk coming in droves to bear the santo on their shoulders. Semana Santa processions of old are often the most dramatic, with a long parade of life-size santos and complex tableaus, visualizing  the events of the Passion.

Almost all Christian provinces in the Philippines hold processions of the most wondrous variety—from a simple 1-santo affair to elaborately staged spectacles, made even more awe-inspiring with the addition of local folk elements. In Pampanga,  Maleldo (or Mahal na Araw) is marked with lots of blood and gore, with the ritual walks of faith of magdarames or flagellants, who whip themselves to a bloody pulp as a form of penitence—culminating in actual multiple crufixions. Laguna has its famed Turumba, held in Pakil, where the centuries-old image of the Virgin is paraded through the streets accompanied by singing and non-stop dancing. Its sister town, Paete, is the undisputed center of santo woodcarving tradition, producing poons and imagenes in all shapes, sizes and honorifics, for churches and home devotion. Then, as now, residents in this town believe that keeping and caring for a family santo is a lifelong vocation.

In Marinduque, an explosion of colors define the Holy Week proceedings, with the participation of the masked and colorfully-garbed Moriones, representing Roman centurions who re-enact the story of Longinus. Riverine towns like Bocaue in Bulacan and Naga City in Camarines Sur have their fluvial processions; even Pasig River was once the site of an ancient fluvial parade to honor San Nicolas de Tolentino during his feast day. Down South, Cebu has its Sinulog and Iloilo its Dinagyang, riotous events that pay tribute to the Holy Child Jesus via processions marked with incessant chanting of “Pit Senyor!”.

Come fiesta time, the legendary Santacruzans take over the streets, with a coterie of sagalas, crucifix-bearing Emperatrizes, Reina Elenas and Constantinos lending their regal presence to the merriment of May. In nearby Batangas, Balayan town comes alive in June when it toasts its patron, San Juan Bautista, with a parade of costumed lechons, that are feasted on afterwards In December, the Marian processions of Intramuros, a contemporary undertaking, pays homage to the different titulars of the Virgin. Capping the year are the Christmas nativity processions, yet again another occasion to show everything in our culture that’s folksy, faithful and true.

Today, sweeping changes in our religious practices are being made, perhaps in response to the imperatives of the times, with the Catholic Church simplifying most of its rituals. Masses are shorter and the shrouding of images with purple cloth on Holy Thursday is rarely done by parishes. Intonations in Latin have all but disappeared from our missals. Even church vestments are devoid of heavy gold and silver embroidery, for practical reasons. Happily, one need only to look at our prusisyons on our street, to see that there are still those who carry on the old ways,  maintaining our rich religious tradition, by walking  literally with God.

 Alex Castro

Manila, Philippines