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Thursday, March 04, 2004
Serna: Bantayan’s unique Lenten observance
By Roger Serna
Sounds & images
It seemed like just a few winks ago and we’re all ready in the month of March. Aside from hot, humid days and nights, this time of the year (especially for the Christian world) is also marked by the commemoration of the last days of Jesus Christ on earth.
Last week, the Lenten season officially began with the celebration of the Ash Wednesday. Not long after this, we’ll be celebrating the Holy Week and when this time comes what immediately comes to the minds of Cebuanos, and those from nearby areas, is the “unique” celebration in the town of Bantayan, north of Cebu Province.
Unique in the sense that while the rest of Christendom abstains from eating meat (specifically pork) during Good Friday, most of the households in the island municipality have pork on their tables, not only for the immediate members of their families but also for the numerous guests that come to celebrate the holy days with them.
This is one of the reasons why the town is said to be exempted from the abstinence rule. One of the come-ons to the Bantayan Holy Week celebration is the grandiose procession of centuries old religious icons and images onboard elaborately decorated carriages.
The atmosphere more often than not surpasses that of the town’s annual fiesta celebration held in the last part of June. Nevertheless, the religious faithful exert effort to make the celebration as solemn as possible.
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In nearby Madridejos town, the municipal government, in coordination with the church officials, made some move to elevate the Holy Week rites and practices to the level that Bantayan now enjoys.
Last year, the town resurrected the live reenactment of the passion of Jesus Christ which, by the way, was staged in the town’s plaza several years ago. In fact, this passion play was the same one that was brought to Guadalupe in Cebu city by award-winning director and playwright Alvan Claude Evangelio and which enjoyed the patronage of the religious and socio-cultural sectors for a number of years.
After this, when the Guadalupe Buhing Kalbaryho had entered the consciousness of city-dwellers, Evangelio brought back the said play (now made into a musical) to its place of origin. This was last year.
Last year, the play had lured residents and transients to Bantayan. With its success, local officials are optimistic that the crowd will become even bigger this year.
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Another “event” that’s being awaited with bated breath, sort of, is the showing of the multi-million budgeted movie that is directed by award-winning actor-director and producer Mel Gibson, The Passion of the Christ.
The opening week gross income of the film has reportedly surpassed the estimates of the production. A film critic and reviewer narrated that never in his career has he witnessed a viewing public so moved and overwhelmed as to stay silent and motionless even after the film credits have ceased from rolling.
The controversies that surrounded the movie long before it opened for sure contributed to the film’s popularity, but it is the realistic way (add the words brutal and violent) that the oft-told story had been handled by Gibson that moved the viewers.
Hopefully, The Passion of the Christ will be shown in the country and in Cebu in time with the Holy Week celebration.
(March 4, 2004 issue)
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