Since this week is a Holy Week, starting on April 2, 2023. Let me share with you my Holy Week experience on Bantayan Island in Cebu, Philippines.
During my childhood, visiting Bantayan Island during Holy Week became a tradition. As I have relatives, from my father's side, living on the island. We have relatives living in the towns of Santa Fe and Madridejos.
Where is Bantayan Island?
According to Wikipedia:
Bantayan Island is an island located in the Visayan Sea, Philippines. It is situated to the west of the northern end of Cebu island, across the Tañon Strait. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 145,436. [1]
The island is administratively divided into three municipalities:
- Bantayan (the largest municipality, covering the central part)
- Madridejos (covering the northern portion)
- Santa Fe (center of tourism in Bantayan Island, covering the southeastern portion)
The island area is 108.77 square kilometers (42.00 sq mi). The island is mostly covered with coconut palms; the elevation is mostly below 10 meters (30 ft), with only one taller hill, at 26 meters (90 ft), in barangay Atop-atop.
Source: here
How to Reach Bantayan Island?
- For local transportation, you need to go to the North Bus Terminal by taxi or jeepney.
- At the bus terminal, you can choose several companies with a sign going to Hagnaya or Santa Fe/Bantayan. If you want aircon buses, you can choose the yellow Ceres Bus liners.
- Hagnaya Port is located at Daan Bantayan, but Bantayan Island is your destination. So be aware of that.
- From North Bus Terminal to Hagnaya Port, it will take 3 hours. Always best to bring snacks and food with you. Although they will make a stopover for lunch.
- The best time to go to Bantayan Island is to be early as you can. Some will start their journey at 5 AM.
- When you reach Hagnaya Port, a ferry or RORO will take you to the island. It takes 1 and 1/2 hours for sea transport.
Santa Fe as the Gateway of Bantayan Island
As mentioned, I have some relatives here so we did a stopover. Since I've been here many times, I decided to bring a friend during the Holy Week season on the island back in April 2014. Santa Fe is mostly visited by tourists because of its sandy beaches. I will have a separate blog about it as I am focusing on the Holy Week edition of this post.
White sand beach along the port
Visited a nearby beach in the afternoon
Senakulo
What is Senakulo?
According to National Museum PH:
The Senakulo (or cenaculo) is the staged re-enactment of Christ’s passion and death. It is also known as pasyon y muerte, passion play (Rizal, Bulacan, Bataan, and Pampanga); centurion or hudyuhan (Laguna); tanggal (Bicol region); and pamalandong (Leyte). The performance of the Senakulo is traced to the late 17th and early 18th centuries when the first Pasyon text was written. Unlike the Pasyon which is chanted in a mournful tone called tagulaylay, the Senakulo aims to dramatize scenes while also deriving from the contents of the Pasyon.
Source: here
At night, we witnessed the Senakulo performed by the locals. My cousin acted as Virgin Mary, and my nephews, and nieces were also part of the production. Being part of the Church, they volunteered their time to be part of the Holy Week event.
Photos above were taken using a Nikon D5100 with a 50 mm lens.
Bantayan Island Known for Fasting Exemption on a Good Friday
I first came here when I was about in grade school when my father's brother came to visit us from Davao. He brought us, all-expense-paid to the island, to reunite with our relatives. That was the first time I met all my relatives from our father's side.
We stayed in Santa Fe the whole time and spent our Good Friday to Easter Sunday in Madridejos. The family owns the carrozas of San Juan (Saint John the Baptist) and Santo Entierro (Holy Burial).
Photos below taken using my Nikon D5100 with 50 mm lens, this was our lunch time while decorating the carrozas of San Juan and Santo Entierro.
The Holy Week tradition became a family reunion for us where relatives from different islands of the Philippines came to visit and help to decorate the chariots or the floats.
According to Union of Catholic Asian News:
In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, where people usually observe Good Friday by abstaining from the eating of meat, one town got an exemption from no less than the pope.
The island town of Bantayan was granted a 'papal indult' 176 years ago exempting its residents from the meat prohibition as well as from Holy week fasting.
An "indult" is a permission granted by church authorities for the non-observance of a particular norm or church law.
The community on Bantayan Island in the province of Cebu was the first parish established in the Visayas and Mindanao regions of the Philippines.
The parish, which was used to be known as the 'Convento de la Asuncion de Nuestra Señora' was established in 1580, some 15 years before the establishment of Cebu itself.
The exemption was made because residents, who mostly depended on fishing for food, had to attend Holy Week observances in the church.
Source: here
Decorating the Carrozas or the Carriers in Madridejos
The carrozas are decorated with different flowers and ornaments. To purchase all the flowers, we had to buy it from the Carbon Public Market in Cebu City and transport it to Bantayan Island. All relatives share amount of money for this tradition for the flowers and food.
Also, if some relatives have their own transportation, one relative needs to fetch the other relatives. Just help to pay for the gasoline. Off we go!
San Juan de Bautista
Blessing of the carroza
Taken during sunset
Preparing the carroza of the Holy Burial
Life-size image of Jesus Christ, before we put Him in the decorated carroza, a lot of people requested to put under a white envelope under the pillows. Inside the white envelope is a money bill of at least PHP 20 as their lucky bill they can put inside their wallet for the entire year.
People just have different beliefs and miracles. I also believe in Miracles.
Decoration of Santo Entierro
Procession of Different Carrozas
Different Carrozas are owned by different families in the town. It is said that families who have these are called affluent.
Although in our case, there are like 2 or 3 relatives that are sort of well-off. But preparing for this event is needed with the help of all relatives.
The Last Supper
Resurrection or Easter Sunday
Since our San Juan was part of "The Encounter" we have to wake up early at dawn to be with the other carrozas of Mater Dolorosa and Mary Magdalene.
According to Wikipedia:
Easter,[nb 1] also called Pascha[nb 2] (Aramaic, Greek, Latin) or Resurrection Sunday,[nb 3] is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.[12][13] It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus Christ, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Source: here
Resurrection of Jesus
The earliest description of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances is a quotation of a pre-Pauline creed preserved by Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, which was written roughly 20 years before any of the gospels.[70] This passage made no mention of Mary Magdalene, the other women, or the story of the empty tomb at all,[71][72] but rather credits Simon Peter with having been the first to see the risen Jesus.[71][73][74] Despite this, all four canonical gospels, as well as the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, agreed that Mary Magdalene, either alone or as a member of a group, was the first person to discover that Jesus' tomb was empty.[55][75] Nonetheless, the details of the accounts differ drastically.[68]
Source: here
Below is not my video, but you can see the dramatic cultural form of Easter Salubong.
This is how Filipinos mourn and celebrate during the Holy Week. I cited some sources to understand how the people of Bantayan Island observe the Holy Week.
Semana Santa in Sevilla, Spain
Since we got this tradition from Spain which the Philippines was under the colony for 300+ years, here's the video how Spanish do their observation of Semana Santa in Sevilla, Spain.
Welcome to iTravelRox! Roxanne Tamayo is a Cebuana who is a traveler. Now a mom of 2 kids and a wife. She is a travel blogger and a digital nomad. As a Virtual Assistant, she does a lot of things like content writing, WordPress web design, WP updates and maintenance, graphic design, and photo editing. She is into wedding photography, as well.
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