‘Semana Santa’ in Cebu
Holy Week is Christendom’s holiest week of the year. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are the holiest days.
In Cebu, like the rest of the Philippines and other Christian countries, Semana Santa is devoted to days of solemn services in churches and homes alike. Believers are encouraged to follow in their prayers with readings from the Gospel the account of each of the actions from the time of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the crucifixion and death of Jesus on Good Friday and the resurrection on Easter Sunday. This tradition has been passed on from generation to generation for hundreds of years since the Spanish colonization of the Philippines.
Holy Week officially starts on Palm Sunday where Catholics, during Mass, carry “palaspas” or palm leaves to be blessed by the priest. Many of them bring home the palm leaves after the Mass and place these above their front doors or their windows, believing that doing so can ward off evil spirits.
Government and private companies will end the work week on Holy Wednesday when some employees will return to their respective towns in observance of the Holy Week. Most shopping malls and some department stores will close shop on Maundy Thursday until Black Saturday.
Good Friday is considered to be the holiest of all and virtually every faithful Christian will observe the day in deep silence and penitence such as fasting and prayers. People stay at home and virtually everything comes to a standstill. Commercial, social and other activities not considered religious are virtually absent. Hotels will remain open however.
Bantayan in Bantayan Island in northern Cebu may observe the solemnity of the Holy Week but it is probably the only place in the whole world where eating meat is not a transgression to the Holy Catholic doctrine.
A papal indult granted by Pope Leo XII in the 19th century allows Bantayan residents to feast on meat even on Good Friday because fishermen at this time of year could not go fishing due to the inclement water conditions.
The Spanish Church obtained a copy of the indult in 1843, 263 years after the erection of the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul in 1580. The indult was later renewed by Pope Gregory XVI.