Good Friday is a day my family spends in my Mom’s hometown, Binangonan, Rizal. While it’s a growing city, I still love its narrow streets filled with tricycles. Everyone knows everyone and giving it a “small town” sort of vibe.
This is my godson Chino. He still lives in Binangonan with my cousins (one who is his mom) and my tita.
Every year, we grab tons of baked goods at the local bakery. We typically give these away to people in the Good Friday procession but of course I snag my favorite – The Kababayan Mamon. Php 2 each!
Because my Family is synonymous with Food Trip, we’re eating. ALL THE TIME.
Here’s some Bagoong my Tita makes. It’s fresh and the best bagoong in the world.
Every year the town has a procession of Saints in a story that depicts the events leading up to Jesus’ death.
My family gives out water and refreshments to the people in the procession.
This is David, manning the water cooler.
This is my brother Marvin and his girlfriend Jill preparing the cups.
Hot nights, cold drinks, thirsty processioners. (is that even a word?)
The best part of this procession is the “giwang-giwang” which, in english, describes the glass case being carried haphazardly zigzagging from side to side. Basically, it’s hundreds of the town’s men that carry a life-size Jesus through the streets of Binangonan as their Panata. A hundred men trying to carry a glass box? It’s the definition of chaos and truly amazing to behold. There have been years where some of the nagbubuhat perish in this faith-motivated tradition.
The “nagbubuhat” are usually all wearing white. Here they are, waiting for the craziness to begin.
There’s the Giwang-Giwang!
It’s not an easy tradition. The boys are exhausted. However, when there’s a camera around, they light up. This is my favorite photo from the night. I just wish it weren’t so blurry.
We give out water and bread every year to the people in the process and especially to the guys carrying Jesus. This year, we decided to change it up and distribute towels.
the towels are a hit!
As the years pass, fewer men join this tradition. Maybe because the younger generation doesn’t feel the same passion. I hope I’m wrong and the giwang-giwang lasts for years and years to come.
After all that activity, we settle down and EAT! (of course)
Our lovely meal that caps off our annual Good Friday Binangonan Tradition.
Hope everyone had a blessed Holy Week! 🙂
While everyone in Manila troops to some vacation destination for Holy Week, my family and I did what we do every year and stayed home. I love quiet Manila. Nothing is open so there is no traffic and no chaos. We honestly need to have more days like this. Manila could use a break.
Holy Thursday is the day my family usually does Bisita Iglesia. Traditionally, one is supposed to visit 14 churches to symbolize all the stations of the cross. We’re not the most religious of families so while we observe this practice, we go to as many churches as we can. This ends up being around 3-5 churches. Truthfully, we kinda get sidetracked by the food at each Church. It’s part of the fun and makes for great family bonding.
We always make it a point to head to Antipolo Church. Every year we drive by the hundreds of people walking up to the Church as their Panata or sacrifice. It’s 10km from Ortigas through Cainta and up to Antipolo. It looks like a lot of fun. I think next year I’m going to make that walk also. I think it’ll be an awesome adventure.
Outside Antipolo Church
The Altar and crowds inside of the Church
Praying for intercession
Mama Mary
Hordes of people heading to the Church
Lighting Candles
Of course the best part is, after the Church, there’s a TON of food stalls outside.
The Food Market Area
Most of them sell Filipino Delicacies
They give you a Free Taste.. or in their words "Pree Tees"
My mom.. buying suman
There are delicious cooked dishes also. I love Filipino food!!!
YUM. Mami & Coke in the traditional glass bottle
No Filipino Food trip is complete without Balut!
At around 10pm, we head home, happy and full from our Good Thursday. Stay tuned for my post for Good Friday 😀
I love this quote by JRR Tolkein. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. It’s appropriate to what I’ve been going through, called The Quarter Life Crisis. A friend of mine defines the “Quarter Life” as when you’re twenty something and too young to be old and too old to be young. To me the crisis stems from not knowing what you want to do, where you want to go and that pressure to figure it out. It’s crazy. People in my generation are always encouraged to follow our hearts, be ourselves and do what we want and makes us happy. But what if I have absolutely no clue what that is?
The question then becomes – “what do you want to be, now that you’ve grown up?”
I’ve always envied the people who have clear identifiable talents. Not to say that we all aren’t talented in some way..but I mean those who can sing, paint, draw, dance, etc. It’s natural for them to want to become what they’re good at – singers, artists, dancers, etc. While not everyone ends up in performing arts, I figure this at least points them in a general direction of what they could pursue in life. At least they know what makes them happy. If one has no such artistic talents so where does that leave you? In my case, modesty aside, I know I’m smart. I know there’s tons of things that I could do and pursue and I know that I could do good with anything I tried. However the questions remain – Is that what I want to be doing? Am I passionate about it? Does it make me happy?
Henry Kissinger once said “The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.” Generations before us didn’t have that many alternatives – they graduated, found jobs that paid decent, spouses, settled down and started families all in their mid-20’s. It was practical and fairly straightforward back then. No internet, cellphones, Facebook, international travel, etc. They did all of that to pave way for what some are calling the Generation of Entitlement. I think that might be us/me. We’re impatient. We have all these opportunities laid out for us. We want it all and we want it now. Speaking of, I’ve come to realize opportunities are double-edged swords. While one should be grateful for every possibility, too many of them can clutter and overwhelm the mind. That’s how I feel..overwhelmed, scared and excited by all the options. The world today makes me feel like I could become anyone.. a pilot, a chef, a model, an entrepreneur, a world traveler, a photographer, an FBI agent, an accountant, a banker, a doctor, a food critic, a lawyer…like I said, anything. Like I said, it’s scary and exciting.
If you came out of the womb knowing what to do and who you wanted to become in life, good for you. I’m in the 99.99999% of the population that doesn’t know and is trying to figure it out. I’m beginning to realize that it is a process that evolves gradually from time, experience and tons of patience. Delayed gratification and sacrifice is key. If I can’t figure out what I want, then I’m gonna determine what I don’t want in a ‘process of elimination’ of sorts. I think I’m going to have to kiss a lot of frogs to get to a prince and I’m not just talking about my love life.
That, in short, is why I’ve started to blog again. I want to chronicle and share my journey of all things significant and mundane. Join me as I explore, wander, share, and discover life… and ultimately, myself. 🙂
In 2003 I started a blog on Xanga. It’s been 8 years since then. Let’s hope I still know how to do this. Stay tuned.
