feedbacks

About the Bleeding Moon

The phenomenon of course can be scientifically explained.Aurora could be thought of as miracle if it were not of science instrument--caused by burst of flame from the sun.Aurora is something to behold .I saw it only on TV.

Thank you for sending this Pangasinan memory.It reminds me too of childhood days when there was no electricity yet..

From a fellow
Pangasinense

********

I know you write extremely well, however, your piece "The Music Died on Good Friday" is excellent. KUDOS. Keep on writing my friend!

Regards.

Edith

****

Edith is a co teacher of ours during our teaching days at the Divine Word College, Urdaneta Pangasinan. She is now in Longbeach, CA. She will be one of our hosts during our coming visit this summer.

She finished AB Major in English at the University of the Philippines, Diliman Campus.

***********

THE NIGHT OF THE BLEEDING MOON

Two of the Holy Week traditions back home that I miss are the Holy Thursday and Good Friday processions. These are practiced mostly in many of  the provinces in the Philippines.

Sure, it is a social event. Townmates attend it to see and be seen, especially if they see each other only once in a while.

But for some, the procession itself is a reminder of the crucifixion that took place years ago in Calvary. Curious gawkers followed the bleeding Christ as He dragged the heavy cross on a obscure path that went out of the city limits, through stony ridges and then at last on an open hill where he could be seen by everybody.

The Holy Thursday procession shows Him as still alive ( the last moments He was still mobile ) carrying a cross. The Good Friday entourage features Him already dead, resting inside a hearse, like a lifeless person being brought to his final resting place.

This is what it is all about, all those church ceremonies done only back home.

 

But there was a natural phenomena which took place one Good Friday Night, just as the Good Friday procession was proceeding back to the church after a cursory trip around the side streets of Asingan's poblacion.

For some reasons, the procession started late. Usually, it commenced at 4:00 pm so it would not be so dark. This time it began past 5:00 pm. The evening sky was slightly cloudy. According to the lunar calendar a full moon would come out at about 6:00 pm.

When the procession was already a few hundred meters away from the church, it was heading south on a road headed for Barangay Baro. It was a few minutes past 6:00 when I turned my vision to the eastern horizon. I nudged my companion ( I forgot already who it was ) and told him, "look at the moon.."

"Oh yeah," he said. In our group nobody was paying attention to the rising moon, which was just peeping out of the clouds and peering  through the clump of trees bordering the church yard.

The moon was blood red.

For some reasons, the prevalence of thin clouds as it came up ( and the sun has also just set in the opposite horizon ) might have caused this discoloration a slight bending or refraction of light from the sun. When a full moon is coming out of a clear evening sky, its color first is yellowish, more like golden or anything.

That moment it was really red, and it was partially covered with darkening evening clouds. My companion was not really paying  attention much to it. Maybe at that momenthe was thinking of something else . But that sight is still in my mind up to now.

 

The procession veered to the left and the church gate was already a few meters away. My sight was still fixed on the moon. It was less reddish in color already. But it has not attained its full yellow color yet.

Then we were all inside the church. My friend and I sat on the back pew so we can leave just in case there will be additional  long prayers. My stomach was already grumbling.

The priest had no more prayers to say, but he started making some announcements concerning the upcoming Easter dawn ceremony.

"Let's go, " my friend said and we shuffled out of our seats and walked fast into the evening air outside. Automatically I glanced at the moon.

It was already above the eastern horizon. There was a very thin cloud that veiled the early nigh sky. It was not red any more. It had the same "normal" colour.

But that night it was not as bright as it usually was. It was very pale yellow like a gold coin tarnished with a thin oxide coating. Normally, it would be a bright shining object sailing through a cloudless night sky.

Since Asingan had no street lights yet that time ( it was a few years before electricity would come to town )the full moon would always be a big night light to all the kids who would still do some games on the streets before tucking in to bed. Come to think of it, there was still no television at that time.

This was the only time I saw the moon coming out of its den garbed in a different colour---#

an entry from SS

Dateline, Alaminos

(April 3rd 4PM, Tuesday , Philippine time).

I'm typing this message in an Internet Cafe at the "T" junction of Alaminos City; the foot of the "T" pointing the way to Mabini (Pangasinan) and beyond, the north arm to Hundred Islands, Bani and beyond, the south arm to Sual and beyond. I'm on my way from Infanta to Mangatarem, a route I have traversed (going and coming) a zillion times since I was three years old in pursuit of different purposes. This time, it is more of a "journey in time".

 

Alaminos is now a city (I commend its people for their town-building spirit) and a lot of big buildings have sprouted at the junction. One such building is the Nepo Mart, a big mall. Before coming to the Cafe, I looked for the music store at the Nepo Mark where I've been to before to buy my favorite songs like Malinac Lay Labi, Naraniag Nga Bulan, etc., and a new song (Pangasinan Hymn) which I just heard at a graduation rites last night. Regretfully, the music store seemed to have closed down.

 

I'll be on my way home to Cavite soon with one last night (tonight) of stay in Mangatarem. Having spent two nights in Infanta, retraced the Infanta-Mangatarem route once more and one more night, in addition to two nights before, in Mangatarem. I think I have enough of the "elixir of old age". I remember very well the saying that "Anything taken in excess is bad".

 

SS

An e-mail..and a Good Friday story

Angelito Domaoan, an Asinganian from New Jersey  wrote:

Hi Vic: How old is Sonny Espejo? Yes everything he was telling was true. During Semana  Santa we are not allowed to talk loud or make noise. I love to watch the procession during Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

I could still remember when Father Estrada. played a music on the speaker tied to the cross at the top of the church during Holy Thursday when suddenly a thunder and a flash of lightning knock out the speaker it came hurling on the ground the speaker and the cross. People were running and were shock of what happened.

 

THE MUSIC DIED THAT GOOD FRIDAY

by VICTORIO COSTES

Note: I was inside the church when the incident happened. here is my account of that incident.

*********

Each Good Friday celebration in Asingan could never be the same as the previous, or the forth coming one..On this particular Friday, some believe they saw the "wrath of God" on this day which marks the death of Jesus from Nazareth.

The day started liked the previous ones..In fact, the sun shone brightly even just as the day started. It was a good omen for the vendors at the churchyard, the modern day version of the "money changers at the temple.."

Siete Palabras ( Seven last words ) usually took place at around 3:00 pm on this day. But sometimein mid morning, the hornspeakers tied to the cross on top of the church started playing music..The Parish priest at that time LOVED music and he had a powerful PA system wired to these speakers which were heard in most of the barrios of Asingan. He used this sound system to wake up people for the December dawn masses, or to call them for the Patron Saint Novenas on October and several other occasions.

But loud music on a Good Friday? It was something which made many conservative and traditional elders in Asingan uncomfortable.

Even in church liturgy during those years, the altar bells would stop ringing during the middle part of the mass, only to ring again on Easter Sunday at 4:00 am. There will be that beautiful procession at dawn where two groups ( one would carry the image of Mary the Mother of Jesus and the other the image of the resurrected Christ ). Mother and Son would meet in front of the church and young Asingan girls dressed as angels would remove the black veil of mourning from Mary's face.. But our story is about Good friday, 2 days before the glorious Easter celebration..

To continue the story..The church yard again was very boisterous. People came to town but would stop short at the gate of the church. The candle vendors are having a field day. The game shows in the plaza are blaring out their their calls for players..It was really like the temple during the time of Jesus.

At 2:00 pm, I was already inside the church.I had to be early to find a good seat. It was terribly hot and humid inside, but outside was ten times worse. Not a breeze was blowing.

Then a wind started to stir things up. What's more in a few minutes I saw from the window that the sun was blocked by thick nimbus clouds. But the music was still going strong.

Even before the siete palabras started, people saw lightning streaking the darkened heavensfollowed by loud thunderclaps. . Then rain started to fall like stream of pebbles, clattering on the church galvanized iron roof. Soon, nothing could be heard except the raindrops on the church roof, howling winds which eventaully drowned the music from the loudspeakers..

All of a sudden a mother of all lightnings filled the church with light followed seconds later by a thunderous boom.It sounded like an exploding bomb..All people inside the church screamed. Many were scared shitless.!A minute later they heard a metallic crash like something fell from the roof of the church. Nobody could see what that was because all gates and windows were closed to prevent the water from coming in!

This time the people inside ( including me ) started praying so hard. I saw some old women crying. "My God, my God forgive all my sins..!" they kept repeating. I expressed the same sentiments too, but very silently.

For a while the storm outside raged like hell lashing out every fury it had. People were waiting for the church to cave in.

Then, the winds and rain stopped as sudden as it started. When the doors opened to clear the humid and saturated air inside the church, people rushed out. They gasped at what they saw outside.

The loudspeakers were lying on the front yard, together with the cross it was tied to. There were debris everywhere: leaves, paper,branches and whatever was there light enough for the wind to pick up. All the "pala-palas" were flattened, including all the gambling joints in the plaza! The sun was again shining bright as ever. There was a fresh smell in the air brought about probably by the lightning unloading its charge of ions from those thick storm clouds.

I rushed home. I did not stop even if I saw some kids pilfering the ravaged structures hoping maybe to find some money.

I was so elated to see our house still standing after that calamity. I rushed inside at once to look for my father and my mother. They were happy to see me safe and sound---#

 

comments..then stories re: Holy Thursday

A comment has been posted to the Blog:
THE ASINGANIAN  JOURNAL
Domingo Ramos photos
Comment from: rickytagamanaoag
"Mia has that "Angelina Jolie" look (better lock her up ... hahaha) and Emma takes after your chocoholic weakness and just as adorable! Those boys will come knocking soon enough."

***

Thanks, Ricky!!

Now here is my story about vignettes of Holy Thursdays past...

different views of holy thursday

by VICTORIO COSTES

Asingan, during the old days, was  dry and boring. So when the Holy Week ( which commences with Palm Sunday ) followed by the Town Fiesta, everybody gets a bit of relief at some possible excitement which was only found in big cities.

When you switch on the radio on Holy Thursday, you heard nothing but classical music. No Rock and Roll. Check the movie pages for the shows in Manila: Nothing but religious shows like THE ROBE, QUO VADIS, etc. Or a note saying THEATRE CLOSED FOR THE OBSERVANCE OF MAUNDY THURSDAY AND GOOD FRIDAY. It seemed the excitement shifted into the provinces which was good ( and bad at the same time ).

Holy Thursday morning, the street going to the church were paved with the refreshment parlors. And some tables which offered an easy way of doubling your money. ( Or so you thought ) Some of these were:

1. The tri color panel. The operator would spin a marble on a tri colored panel. Before the marble settles down on a certain color, ( you were dead sure it would stay on the red panel ) he covers the game board and waited for people, usually kids to land their bets. Then, he uncovers the board and voila! The marble was resting comfortably on the yellow and your money changed hands immediately..

2. Where is the dice?..The operator juggled ( and prattled at the same time ) with 3 cups and one small dice. The cups kept changing over the stationery dice, then all cups were placed upside down and he would ask you to put your bet on which cup contained the dice. Of course, you swore the dice was under the cup at the left and you bet some coins on it. When the operator opened the cup, there was NO DICE!

Once you are bored ( or sensed you were being stiffed ) you would move on the bigger joints. There was this horse race with wooden fillies ( maybe 10 or 12 ). The more, the better for the operator. But you check the prizes: nothing but cheapies that would cost less than the purchase price for the tickets you but to bet on the horse of your choice!

Noon time came. You go home and ate a full meal so you may not spend your pocket money on the pancit, arroz caldo or goto that are being sold by some pretty wenches who would try to win your business by their winsome smiles..

***

A few years later, you would not care for this "kid stuff" anymore. You would prefer to go to church. Not because you learned some saintly principles from school but because you expect that sometime before the start of the service, you would stand at the gate of the church ( with a buddy ) and wait for some of those local Collegialas who just arrived from Manila a few nights ago. Or Baguio. Or Dagupan. All of them would be there!

Yep, there were several pretty Colegialas in Asingan before. And maybe even now. Chances are all of them would be attending the religious service. . Thats the good news. The bad news is their spinster aunts might coming to church with them.

Then came the time I joined the local Asingan choir. I had the edge because all the musicians would go up the choir loft ( one existed before the big earthquake in 1990 ). And there were seats for the singers and instrumentalists. We were in the "balcony." The "orchestra" would be wall to wall with worshippers who would bear out the humidity, the mixture of cheap perfume and human sweat while waiting for the long service to end. Then of course, the procession would commence after the tedious ceremony and you would have a chance to join it and show the town what a "pious" person you are!

***

In 1998, we went home for the Holy Week and our town fiesta. We arrived in Manila couple of days before Holy Thursday. We rested a bit, then decided to leave for Asingan on the morning of Holy Thursday.

What a surprise! The streets of Manila was practically empty. It was like a sci fi movie where an epidimic swooped down and all people died. We took a taxi to Cubao. All stores were closed. And busses for Pangasinan came only once every 30 minutes.

As the bus reached Pampanga, we were greeted by an awesome sight. We saw costumed people ( Roman Soldiers ) flogging a man garbed as Jesus, carrying a cross under the broiling noon day sun along the hot concrete pavement of MacArthur highway. The bus slowed down a bit. Some passengers took out their cameras and shutters started clicking. There were a few more similar sights ( in San Fernando, then Angeles ) . The MacArthur highway was also as empty as the streets of Manila. The big exodus of vacationistas took place already the night before.

When we reached Urdaneta, there were more people and jeepneys than the usual. We immediately had a ride. My wife had a seat inside the packed vehicle bound for Asingan. I had to stand on the back part of the jeep together with the conductor and another passenger who was in a hurry to head for home at once rather than wait for the next jeepney.

Of course, we had to pay the same amount of fareless regardless. No free rides. Even if you are a Canadian citizen.---#

 

 

Domingo Ramos photos

Glimpses of Palm Sunday..

from the Philippines..

A priest, in the traditional red garb, blessing palms during today's Mass. From an Internet photo...

 

In Asingan, these beautiful palms are called RAMOS, in the Tagalog regions, they are called PALASPAS..

 

Bored?..Today's Gospel reading, and so with the ones this Thursday and Friday are veerrry long!

 

My two granddaughters came today Sunday, making the children choir's attendance complete. Have not seen them for two weeks..Mia said she and their school dance group won a gold medal for a ballet presentation called AUTUMN WALTZ. They performed for the Kiwanis Dance festival..

Mia is  sampling her favorite snack: Peanut Butter!

 

Emma's fave, on the other hand, is Nestle's Chocolate Crunch

 

That is the chocolate induced smile..:)

 

 

feedback from Sonny Espejo

SONNY REMEMBERS SEMANA SANTA

You opened a floodgate of memories with this piece. Semana Santa always was a special week despite its melancholy tones then. Baguio holidays, beach parties were yet unknown - just  folksy but very solemn observance of a religious event. Looking back, those days were simply beautiful.

 

My "old days"  probably are 15 to 20 years after yours as electricity is already around (although in dupac, it was still 2 posts away from our house) when I  become aware of the semana santa. As a young boy, I always regarded these holy days with much awe and reverence. The old folks, I remember, undergo sudden transformation and spend these days in religious fervor bordering on superstitious belief - which is quite nice sometimes because the usual din in the barrio is replaced with hushed tones. Kids are forbidden from laughing and shouting and engaging in physical games or from any of the strenuous activities young rascals love to do. You could not even climb for the ripe kaimitos and sineguelas. I badgered my Grandmother for an explanation and she told me that these were all in mournful sympathy with the suffering of Jesus under the hands of the hudyo and so I better behave myself or I would become one of them. The hudyo had become so villainized that the threat to be turned into one is enough to keep us boys into playing sungka with the girls rather than engaging in our preferred rowdy and boisterous games of patentiro or pinnaltugan. Even the AM radio stations then would play only religious music or slow instrumental pieces. All you could hear were the soulful and lilting lamentations of the Pasyon singers of the Pabasa usually done in Apong Olang's (Quillopas) place. The Quillopas compound were then our version of the barangay plaza because of their wide and concreted front yard and the sari-sari store where folks could buy their daily supply.  

 

There is also this weird concept of the kering, a brief period (real or imagined) of holy Wednesday when the wind would keep still – so still that you couldn't see a single leaf waving. Be warned from taking a bath at this hour lest you would be afflicted with jerky head movements! But my cousins and I had a great laugh when we caught my Apong Pedro (my uncle BenHurs father) shaking the branches while taking a bath. If the wind refuses to blow, then you can take matters in your own hands!

 

The centerpiece of the event for me then is the Libot - procession of saints borne on decorated carriages  decked with flowers, pulled by the townspeople around the Poblacion and accompanied by a marching band – same group that escorts and plays for funerals. The procession includes among others the likeness of San Pedro and his crowing rooster (that's how literal we, Catholics could get - he he he), Santa Veronica with her miraculous cloth, the grieving Virgin Mary, the Cross-bearing Christ on Maundy Thursday and the Holy Sepulcher on Holy Friday. I remember one of my cousins single-handedly stopping the procession one time when he inadvertently stepped and caused the snapping of the electric wires connecting the lightings of the carriages and the mobile genset of the Estrada Sound system that tags along.

 

Me and my playmates would save some money in advance so that we could walk all the way to town (yes, walking was still fashionable then) and join the Libot on the afternoons of Huebes Santo and Viernes Santo. Not that you need money for the Libot, but you should have something for the snacks and rides in the plaza afterwards. The Asingan town fiesta is traditionally just after the Holy week so that by that time, the plaza is already full of assorted food stands, rides and amusements but also BINGO and gambling tents. Money was always scarce and I never had enough to start with but I'm lucky to have a best friend with a rich grandpa. Reynold and I would run from our companions until we would lose them and then we would sit and haunch over a table incognito inside one of the temporary panciteria or halo-halo stands. We would stay in the plaza until it gets dark enough so then we could watch feel-good, black and white movies in one of those lupisak theaters. For just 30 centavos, and you get to watch Fernando Poe, Jr or Joseph Estrada or Tony Ferrer fight triumphantly for justice and freedom.

 

Childish faith. Simple wants, simple needs… those were the days.

 

SONNY ESPEJO