Mar 24 2008
To Each His Own
Haven’t posted in quite a bit. Was feeling lazy and indolent..hehe..well, who wouldn’t be. The room is a mess! The two youngest brothers are here. They will be staying for the duration of the summer so I guess I am stuck with them. The whole family was here last Thursday and they (minus the 2 youngest) left around lunch time Saturday. The room was jampacked. Oh well, the joys of having a large family. LOL. Just this evening, after hearing mass, we went to get groceries and as we were transferring the eggs to the egg tray in the ref, my youngest bro dropped about 4 eggs…grrrr! I was so mad on the waste due to clumsiness, but I managed to reign my emotions in and counted 1-10, after which I was able to ask him, “What have we learned from this?” On which he promptly replied, in the Visayan language, “Not to place the tray on the edge of the sink.” I guess I was guilty of the same mistake too when I was younger, so I guess I felt it was just something coming full circle and I can’t feel all too righteous on him. LOL. Oh well you can’t blame me too, as that could have been breakfast tomorrow morning. Now we’re down to 8 eggs instead of the 1 dozen that we bought.
Enough about the eggs. And I know many people have been busy with the traditional Easter egg hunt. As I had observed on television regarding the coverage of the many practices during the holy week all over the country, each place has its own unique stamp on how they celebrate the Holy week. Regarding the Holy week practices here in Bacolod, I find it very different from the previous ones that I have experienced so far in my stay in Dumaguete. For one, the via crucis we attended early morning of Good Friday at the Redemptorist church was participated in by only quite a few people, numbering about 30 as I estimated it, and it was just around the church grounds. In Dumaguete, I would estimate the whole procession to cover about 5 kilometers on the main roads, with easily more than a thousand people joining the procession.
Another practice I find quite unique is the one wherein after the prayer in a particular station is completed, the people scramble and compete with one another to gain possession of the flowers/leaves that were used to adorn the said station. As Borski would be in Dumaguete for the Holy week, I already gave her the heads up on capturing this practice on her digicam so that we could post it on our WS post. Too bad her cam bogged down on her during the procession, I think she was only able to get a shot of the flowers and not of the actual commotion whenever the people would be scrambling for those. I was actually laughing when she texted me her frustration on her camera woes. I guess it’s time to get a new one Borski hehehe 
I asked an aunt a long time ago why the people acted the way they did, and she told me that this practice stemmed from the belief that the flowers possessed medicinal properties. The usual practice, she said, was that these flowers were immersed in oil and this oil could be used to treat ailments. I don’t know how true this is, and I have not tested it. I guess everyone is entitled to his/her own practices. To each his own. As one TV ad uniquely expressed it: “Kung diin ka masaya, te suportahan taka.”
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Hmm… m quite familiar with the practice in Bacolod - u know just doing der via crucis at church and only attended by a few people. Here’s why:
- the one i joined covers almost the same distance as yours in Dumaguete.
1) Because there are dozens of church in Bacolod (i am not sure how many you have in Dumaguete). And believe me, if you sum up all the attendees, you’d have thousands of believers.
2) You spoke about the distance - Well, maybe the Redemptorist church & few other churches have that practice. But there are some that covers the whole barangay during via crucis. Yeah, maybe around 5 kms too.
These are just some of my observations during my 2-year stay in Bacolod & finish college. Hope I have given you something as an enlightenment.
Have a good day!
i believe you’re right —- “to each his own”… we do something for we truly believe in it, not because its fashionable or everybody else is doing it! (well, of course, as long as we do things we believe in within the bounds of decency and without stepping on anyone’s toes)
I think it would be VERY hard having company for that long. But it sounds like you are all very close. Your brother can learn a lot from you! Blessings.
yah..it is quite wild but fun times nonetheless..