Visita Iglesia: The Centuries-old Holy Week traditions of the Filipinos

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Tabuelan Cebu Roman Catholic Church

For centuries, Holy Week has been one of the busiest weeks for the Filipinos as far as religious activities are concerned. Throughout this week, Filipinos are preoccupied with the observance of religious traditions, one of which is Visita Iglesia or church visit. This Holy Week tradition is very significant to the Filipino faithful expressing their empathy to the sufferings and death of Jesus on the cross. 

Visita Iglesia 

The Visita Iglesia is a religious tradition that is practiced on Holy Thursday evening after the Mass of the Last Supper where millions of Catholic faithful flock to different churches in the country to meditate and offer prayers. 

This practice of visiting churches on Holy Thursday is the fulfillment of their Panatas (sacred vows). Inside the churches, there are places provided for the devotees and pilgrims for them to kneel, meditate and pray. Some pilgrims walk barefoot from church to church during the Visita Iglesia. 

For Filipinos, Visita Iglesia is sharing the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. The seven (7) churches also symbolize the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ. This tradition was started by St. Philip Neri, an Italian priest, way back in the 16th century.

Other Holy Week traditions of the Filipinos are abstention of meat, instead of eating meat, Filipino Catholics will just eat fish and vegetables like monggo with dried fish. 

San Fernando Cebu Roman Catholic Church

Finger-licking Delicacies 

Holy week is also an opportunity for Filipinos to hone their cooking talent in cooking different native delicacies such as biko, puto maya and of course the everyone’s favorite-the binignit. 

Binignit is a mixture of different fruits such as sweet potato cubed, yam cubed, saba banana cubed, muscovado sugar, coconut milk, water, sliced ripe jackfruit, tapioca pearls and glutinous rice flour. 

Though it is quite hard to prepare and costly given the different ingredients. Besides, it needs constant stirring during cooking to avoid overcooking and prevent the ingredients from sticking. When served, its taste is really worth the effort and the cost. 

Believe it or not, in the Philippines, binignit is such a popular and well-loved delicacy that almost all families prepare binignit on Good Friday.


Holy Week superstitions 

In the Philippines, there are centuries-old superstitious beliefs of the Filipinos like not taking a bath on Good Friday after 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It is believed if you do take a bath after 3 pm, you would develop incurable skin diseases. 

Children are also discouraged by their parents from doing kite flying on Good Friday. According to superstition, kite-flying on Good Friday would cause blindness to the children. 

Another superstitious belief of the Filipino Catholics is not to cut your fingernails on Good Friday because, according to superstition, once you get cut, it would not heal. 

With due respect to non-believers of superstitious beliefs and those of other religions, these are just some of the numerous superstitions observed and practiced by some Filipinos in the country during the observance of Holy Week.

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Samuel A. Escabarte, a licensed English Language and Literature teacher. Please keep updated with my blog posts as they showcase my country’s rich culture, events, and stunning scenery.

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