a family reunion: an Easter Sunday banquet at Talisay

a Lenten Special

Easter, being the biggest holiday in Christiandom, is best celebrated with family. This year, we all went to my Mom’s place at Talisay where my Auntie Aster prepared a banquet for the immediate family. A professional nutritionist who is now a successful caterer, she can cook up the best of Filipino dishes the traditional Cebuano way.


the pre-banquet snacks: my all time favorite native sweet, the biko


For someone who just abstained from eating meat for the 40 days of Lent, I was dying to eat pork and the party spread did not disappoint. My aunt’s grilled pork was the great abstinence-breaker. It wallowed in such a sweet marinade that even before lunch started, I was filching off pieces off the serving dish.


Auntie Aster's sinugbang baboy


Lunch started a bit late as the kids were having an easter egg hunt and my daughter Cacing even had some action. My cousin Cheyenne, on vacation from New York, helped her find an egg so that she would not come out empty handed.

When we finally dig in the buffet, I made sure I had a big chunk of the dark humba pork knuckles (much like adobo but with lots of soy sauce and some sugar) which was so great it was sinful.


humba in dark sweetened soy sauce


My favorite though was the crispy pata or deep-fried pork feet. The pork skin was so crunchy and crispy that it can easily put the famed Carcar chicharon to shame.


crispy pata


For those who would opt for leaner white meat, there was chicken too. My aunt chose to serve native spring chicken, broiled and served whole.


manok bisaya


As added caloric fair, spaghetti and meatballs were served too. Of course, to countermand the cholesterol assault, vegetable dishes came a plenty. There was bitter gourd with egg and pepper, an eggplant stew and the empanada (fried pockets of diced potatoes, carrots, eggs and pork). Seafood was not the call of the day although there was lukot which from a distance could look like string noodles but is really the secretion of the sea hare.


spaghetti with meatballs



paliya (bitter gourd)



tawong guisado



tinunuang lukot (sea hare secretion in coconut milk)



empanada



the empanada filling


Desserts never take a backseat in our family gatherings. Being partial to native delicacies, I had my fill with sticky rice concoctions like my all-time favorite biko. There too were the sapin-sapin and the cassava pitsi-pitsi, sometimes spelled peche-peche. My Aunt Olive also brought in her creamy leche flan or caramel custard which was just divine and perfectly formed. Plus for the chocolate-inclined, there was chocolate cake.


Auntie Olive’s fabulously rich leche flan



sapin-sapin and pitsi-pitsi


To drown us more in our food coma, later in the afternoon, we were served some freshly prepared native cocoa chocolate sikwate and a homemade puto (white sticky rice, steamed with ginger and sugar) which came from an old recipe handed down from at least three generations.


puto and sikwate


Never easy to beg off from food but hey, it was Easter. May you all had a wonderful weekend as well.

the Easter Sunday Sugat at Sta Fe, Bantayan

a Lenten Special

To most people, the happiest Christian holiday is Christmas. Perhaps but not quite. In Catholic orthodoxy, it really is Easter, the day when the promise of salvation is fulfilled and Christ came back from the dead. This day is greeted by mirth and merriment befitting the culmination of the promise of the forgiveness of sin and the acceptance into heaven.


the sugat at Sta Fe, Bantayan was participated by people of all ages


In the Philippines, a grand tradition continues to this day in celebration of Easter. Performed in the wee hours of Easter Sunday morning is Salubong or Sugat in the Cebuano-speaking regions. This pre-dawn ritual, as its name suggests, is a depiction of the imagined meeting of the Risen Christ's with Mary, His mother.


costumed dancers performed before the meeting of the two processions


The occasion is not just a spectator event as the community participates by joining two separate processions. The statues of the Risen Christ and select Apostles (the identities can vary by location) are led by menfolk and the icons of the ladies led by Virgin Mary are ushered by the women. The two solemn parades often converge in a specially prepared meeting place or sugatanan usually in the churchyard.


a passion play preceded the convergence of the two processions



the statue of the Risen Christ led by men making its way into the church while the passion play was winding up


Some communities would hold a short play of the Passion, from Christ’s conviction through Crucifixion to the burial of His dead body in a cave guarded by Roman soldiers. The The part where the missing body is discovered missing in Easter morning by Mary Magdalene and Mary of Cleophas is timed when the two processions shall arrive. Usually, the two parties are separated by an arch or by a curtain.


a giant white curtain cordoned the main street of Sta Fe in front of the church for the sugat processions


The climax occurs when a tiny girl dressed as an angel is lowered by ropes from a high platform to lift the mourning veil of the grieving Mother. Then the celebration of Easter begins and church bells are rung, alleluias are sung, the icons are brought inside the church and the mass is celebrated.


the Risend Christ being brought before the sugatanan



the parted curtain showed the meeting of Christ and Mother Mary (note the unopened false ceiling at the arch)


In the Philippines, the more famous salubong plays are performed in the provinces of Cebu, Rizal, Naga, Pampanga, Bataan and Marinduque. Easily the most grand of Cebu’s sugat presentations is in Minglanilla where numerous girls are suspended in mechanical contraptions.


the false ceiling parted while a girl angel was lowered down by rope harness



the angel lifts the black veil to signify the end of mourning


I have not yet witnessed the Minglanilla kabanhawan (resurrection) festival but almost every town has their own version albeit in a smaller scale. The photographs here are the ones I took in town of Sta Fe, Bantayan Island. Their affair was down to earth, subdued and intimate but no less sincere in declaring the joy that is Easter.


the Virgin Mary revealed



the celebration began after the veil was lifted


Happy Easter everyone!

Good Friday: the Siete Palabras

a Lenten Special

When I was growing up in the 80s, there was no cable TV at home to keep us company during the Holy Week. The state of solitude pervades most during Good Friday when regular free TV and FM radio would sign off. Being raised in a conservative Catholic household, we would not be allowed to go out either. Not there would be any open destination anyway as there were no malls yet and all commercial establishments would shut their doors during this holy day. The idea of spending the Holy Week outside of home was unheard of either, if not outright taboo.

What was left for us was join in the religious rites- the via crucis, the mass services, confession and the solemn processions. On Good Friday, the day that Jesus died on the cross, there too is the popular series of oratories of the Seven Last Words, or Siete Palabras in our vernacular, which is read in the leadup to 3PM. As kids, we were excused and did not have to go to church – Lent falls on the dead of summer in the Philippines so the heat and humidity can be unbearable – but our parents would have us tune in to the AM radio.

As an homage to the age old tradition of the Seven Last Words, here are photographic depictions of Christ’s crucifixion.


Bantayan, Cebu, the Philippines
I. Amahon Ko, pasayloa sila kay wala sila nakahibalo sa ilang gibuhat. Father forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)



San Pedro Cathedral, Davao City, the Philippines
II. Karon, magauban ka Kanako sa Paraiso. Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43)



Museo San Pablo, St Paul's Cathedral, Vigan, Ilocos Sur
III. Babaye, ania ang imong anak. Anak, ania ang Imong inahan. Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26-27)



an ebony cross from Tanzania, at home in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, the Philippines
IV. Diyos Ko, Diyos Ko, Nganong gibiyaan mo Ako. Eli Eli lama sabachthani? ("My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?", Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34)



the Church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Sibonga, Cebu, the Philippines
V. Giuhaw Ako. I thirst (John 19:28)



Nuestra Señora de Patrocinio de Maria Church, Boljoon, Cebu, the Philippines
VI. Nahuman na. It is finished (John 19:30)



Salvador Dali's Crucifixion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, uptown Manhattan, New York, the US
VII. Amahan Ko, sa Imong mga kamot, itugyan Ko ang Akong Kalag. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46)

Via Crucis at the Tabor Hills, part 2

a Lenten Special

continued from Via Crucis at the Tabor Hills, part 1

Another unique feature of the Tabor Hills is that instead of 14 stations, there are 16 stations. The use of 16 station is a concession to modern demands I presume. Scripturally though, of the fourteen traditional Stations of the Cross, only eight have definitive biblical foundation.


VII. Jesus falls the second time



VIII. Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem



IX. Jesus falls the third time



X. Jesus is stripped of His garments



XI. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross



XII. Jesus dies on the cross



XIII. Jesus' body is removed from the cross (Deposition or Lamentation)



XIV. Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered in incense



(XV) Resurrection



(XVI) Descent of the Holy Spirit


The route starts at the foot of the hill, winding into the peak that offers a spectacular view of the city. Doing this once a year is a fitting reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for humanity.

Via Crucis at the Tabor Hills, part 1

a Lenten Special

By tradition, our family performs the Via Crucis on the Holy Week. In the 90s, we preferred doing the rites at the Celestial Gardens in Banawa, but of late we moved to the Tabor Hills in Talamban whose Stations of the Cross trail opened to the public about 2002.


the Church at Tabor Hills



my mom praying before St Rita of Cascia


The popularity of Tabor Hills of the Order of the Discalced Augustinians’ (OAD) can be traced to its proximity to the city and to its pre-eminence as a repository of reliquaries of minute bone fragments of St. Longinus, St. Joseph Arimathea, St. Mary of Salome, St. Mary of Cleophas, St. Mary of James, St. Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist.


genuflecting before a station of the cross


An altar beside the church also contains alleged fragments of the wooden cross of St. Dimas who was crucified beside Christ, the stone from the birth home of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the cross of Jesus Christ, the wood from the table of the Last Supper, the pillar of the scourging of Jesus, the red mantle of the Passion of Jesus, the Holy Shroud, the stone where Jesus suffered His agony, a rock from the Garden of Olives, the sepulcher stone of Jesus and a stone from Calvary.


the crowd at Tabor Hills on early Maundy Thursday morning


In reflection of the Holy Week, here is a photographic Via Crucis of the Tabor Hills, in two parts.


I. Jesus is condemned to death



II. Jesus is given His cross



III. Jesus falls the first time



IV. Jesus meets His Mother



V. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross



VI. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus


to be concluded tomorrow in Via Crucis at the Tabor Hills, part 2