Crimson Heavens

Lent is a forty-day long liturgical season of prayer, penitence and alms-giving for us Catholics (and some other Christian denominations) which starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Black Saturday, the Saturday before Easter. We remind ourselves of Christ’s suffering, Death and Resurrection.

By right, all Catholics aged 14 and older are required to practice abstinence at least during Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent, and also, all Catholics aged 18-59 are required to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday at the minimum. Abstinence means not eating meat (flesh of any warm-blooded animal) and Fasting means eating only one full meal a day (and two more meals if the quantity of both does not equal to one full meal, if really necessary).

To some Catholics, this is also the time of the year of which they “give up” something they really like to do as a sacrifice to God.

For Filipinos, singing of the “Pasyon” is an activity for the whole community. The Pasyon is a verse narrative on the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ, which is written in any major Filipino dialect. And then of course, there is the “Sinakulo”, a Lenten play, usually in verse which narrates episodes from the Old and New Testament. Also, for some specific provinces, other practices are also followed like the Marinduque’s Moriones, of which the locals reenacts the legend of Longinus, the Roman legionnaire who became a Christian, and of course the procession of the flagellants and crucifixion in Pampanga.

Personally, penitence by abstinence and fasting is one thing, but self-flagellation and crucifixion? Err…I think is just too gory….