Tradition dictates
that we don’t go out of town or on an outing on Holy Week. The most travelling we did was the Visita
Iglesia which when everyone was younger we did on foot. Ah-huh!
We walked from one church to another.
We did nine churches like a novena.
Later, some people told us that we just needed to visit seven churches
but we stuck to our ignorance. As they
say, it is bliss!
The route we took must
always be carefully studied; meaning, it must be the least labor intensive
effort. While we were residing in
Manila, the route taken was always the church around the corner which was the
San Fernando de Dilao Parish in Paco.
This was followed by the Nuestra Senora de Guia Church in Ermita then on
to San Agustin Church, Manila Cathedral, Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz in Binondo,
Sta. Cruz Church, and Quiapo Church. By
this time, we would be really dragging our feet so depending upon our resolution,
we would either walk on or take a bus headed to St. Vincent de Paul Parish
along San Marcelino Street. The last
stop was usually the St. Peter’s Chapel along Quirino Avenue and this was where
things got complicated. St. Peter’s
being a simple chapel, at that time, normally closed by late night. This development necessitated a Plan B for us
- the Sto. Nino de Pandacan Church. The
location of this church had always been a big puzzle for us and there was this
one time when we circled and circled the area but never found it. We had to visit our first church again as our last stop - to complete nine
churches. This practice came to a point
where I felt my children were dreading Holy Week each time it was nearing! Burning rubber soles despite the promise of
all-you-can-eat ube hopia in Binondo started to take on intimidating
proportions. The sight of barefooted
devotees of the Nazarene, though, had never ceased to fascinate them. They called it Alay Lakad.
This year, upon their own instigation, my
now grown-up kids thought it a good idea to do the nine churches again. Only Son was tasked to google the map and
find out the most convenient route to accomplish the task. After one day of searching, he came to the
conclusion that it cannot be done because he simply could not find where the
churches are located. Yeah, right! Second Daughter, the obsessive person that
she is, interested herself in recording the Cenakulo that paraded around the
streets. Apostles, centurions, chariots,
Mary Magdalene, Mater Dolorosa, whoever marched through the streets got their
pictures taken.
The rest of the brood
busied themselves with marathon crime series while continuously gobbling up
what was inside the ref and the food cabinet!
They called a halt to these sessions in deference to Good Friday but
resumed the same as night fell!
Maybe we’ll just slowly research nearby
areas as we go along so we can get back to our old tradition next year especially now that we
have a Hammie to break-in to the tradition!
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