The Meaning of Lent
by Rudy Arizala
Labong ng Kawayan, Manila, 2002
Whenever Lent approaches, I remember the old stone church of my town and the women in saya (skirts) with black veils covering their faces and huge scapularios (scapulars) hanging around their necks. I also remember the various statues of saints paraded in the long procession on Good Friday.
The fishermen of my town, including the Dumagats or Aetas, (indigenous tribes) crowded around the corpse of a "dead Christ" and elbowed each other to hold on to and get a bite of the cordon tied around the statue's waist. For it is their belief that if you were a fisherman and got a bite of the rope tied around the "dead Christ," you would have a bountiful catch when you went fishing.
The others who crowded around the statue of the "dead Christ" during the procession were those who had anting-anting (amulets). Amulet holders believed that by touching the dead Nazarene, their amulets were "energized."
Aside from the procession on Good Friday, we also have the penetencias (flagellants). They do not wear any clothing except leaves of trees and banana plants tied around their waists. Their heads are covered with leaves and flowers. They dance and move around while whipping themselves with iron chains and twigs with thorns. Their sweats mixed with blood glisten on their bodies under the afternoon sun. After two to three hours of such rituals, they go to a river or stream to bathe.
Why do they practice such things or become flagellants? Most of them had been sick or afflicted with an "incurable" disease; they made a vow that once they got well, they would become flagellants. Others simply do it as a sacrifice for the atonement of sins.
These flagellants observe their religion or belief with so much faith and devotion. They are simple folk, fishermen and farmers, who still cling to the old traditions with the innocence of a child. They are like the old women of my town who are still in their saya (skirts) and kotso (thick leather slippers) with long rosaries and scapulars. They continue their vigil with candlelight flickering during processions on Good Fridays.
Will they be able to hold on and defy the winds of change?
In this modern age of computers, cellular phones and laser prints, people still like to hold on to old traditions, beliefs or miracles, perhaps to reassure themselves that after Good Friday comes Easter or the Resurrection and, therefore, the possibility of their own immortality.
All these and the promise of salvation and eternal life, I think, is the essence of Lent. Happy Easter to everybody!