77. 10 RARE AND EARLY PHOTOS OF FLAGELLANTS IN PAMPANGA

The ways of  flagellants have always inspired awe and curiosity amongst the faithful during the days of Lent. Pampanga flagellants, however, have a different intent. Bloodied, scourged and caked with dust, magdarames live and act out the passion of the Lord—and the term “dámé”, to sympathize and share one’s grief, to take part in someone else’s suffering-- captures this spirit of oneness, in pain and sorrow. Here are, early images of the “magdarame” in Pampanga,  preserved by the camera from the turn of the 20^th century to the 1950s.

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1. MAMALASPAS

Barefooted flagellants from the early 20th century have their backs incised with wounds, drawing blood by whipping their backs with burilyos--bamboo strips tied to a cloth. These magdarame types are called mamalaspas, A distinctive sound is heard when the bamboo strips strike the flesh.

2. MAGDARAMES IN A VISITA

Makeshift chapels of wood, nipa and light materials serve as pitstops for  retinue of magdarames. Here, at these gaily decorated visitas, they pause to say their prayers, before moving on.

 3. MAGDARAME ANONYMOUS.

A magdarame remains anonymous by covering his face with a black hood or a white cloth, called "capariza", held in place by a crown of vines or twisted branches. These days, the face cover is an option as some modern-day flagellants expose their faces to the world. Instead, a piece of cloth is used to covers their heads, Arab-style.

4. BLOOD AND GORE

The back of a magdarame  is incised with a panabad, a paddle with shards of broken glass or directly with a razor or the sharp tip of a knife, such as the one shown in the photo.

5. EYES ON THE MAGDARAME

A group of American ladies from nearby Fort Stotsenburg gawk at a cross-bearing magdarame, followed by his aide, who intones prayers. Then, as now, magdarames were strange sights to see for foreigners. Today, the display of unusual practices such as flagellation and crucifixion are part of a 'religious tourism program' propagated by such places led by the City of San Fernando.

 6. THE CROSS-BEARERS

A popular type of magdarame is the cross-bearer or mamusan kurus. He either carries a cross or is tied to one. This flagellant carries a cross of bamboo, and he carries its full weight as the cross does not touch the ground. Today's crosses are fashioned from commercial lumber from hardware stores, or fashioned from old electric posts. They are also unusually long, so that the end of the cross touches the ground, thus providing support,

 7. THE WAY OF THE CROSS

Flagellants often walked country trails and roads, in small packs of 8 to 12. Others go on solitary walks, the better to reflect on his personal mission to be united in suffering with Christ. An American in a white suit follows this group in their walk of faith.

8. WHIP IT GOOD!

Another kind of magdarame is the sasalibatbat, who fling their bodies to the ground, rolling over sharp rocks and stones in the process. They are followed by a flogger, who whips them when they are on the ground. Their torsos, legs and arms are tied with abaca rope to impair circulation, hence making the experience more torturous.

9. EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT?

An ayudante checks on the condition of a magdarame, sprawled on the field under the hot, mid-day sun.  The walk around town begins in the morning, ends by early afternoon and is followed by a dash to the nearest river for a quick, recuperative bath.

10. CRUCIFY HIM!

A magdarame is symbolically crucified, by having his arms tied on the crossbar.  The first re-enactment of Christ's crucifixion happened in the 1955 "Via Crucis" in San Fernando, but it was only in 1962 that an actual crucifixion was done, with the nailing of Artemio Anoza to the cross in barrio San Pedro Cutud. Anoza believed he could realize his dream to be a faith healer with his crucifixion.

PHOTO SOURCES:

Photos, courtesy of "Old Pampanga" FB Group.

Others: Alex R.castro, ebay.com 

42. 7 BEST HOLY WEEK DESTINATIONS IN PAMPANGA (aside from Cutud)

This week, all roads will surely lead to Cutud, and so for a change, why not avoid the madding crowd, take the road less travelled, and discover these little-known Holy Week events in Pampanga:

Photo courtesy of Ivan Anthony Henares

The PASYON SERENATA of Brgy. San Basilio in Sta. Rita (Holy Wednesday evening). You’ve heard the pasyon, you’ve heard the serenata, but I’m sure you haven’t heard the pasyon serenata, which is the Holy Week version of this unique Kapampangan fiesta spectacle. It’s a showdown between two brass bands and their respective choirs who try to outperform each other by chanting the pasyon to the tune of classical operas. They play all night long, one page at a time, until they finish the whole book. The sight and sound of betel-chewing barrio folks singing the entire history of salvation in Kapampangan and to the tune of Verdi and Puccini will blow you away. Despite their guegue it’s a performance worthy of a concert hall instead of some dusty road in a remote farming village.

Photo: Maleldo king Pampanga FB Group

The GRAND ASSEMBLY OF PENITENTS in Mabalacat City (Good Friday early morning).

It’s a scene straight out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie: hundreds, maybe thousands, of half-naked flagellants and cross-bearers in flowing red robes, brought together by sin and tradition, converge in the church patio for an orgy of suffering, self-mutilation and penance. The number of penitents makes you wonder if flagellation, like circumcision, is a rite of passage among boys in Pampanga. (It also makes you wonder why Kapampangans, usually vain, would want to lacerate their skin and flesh and disfigure their pampered bodies.)

Photo by Reuters

The CENACULO of Brgy. Lourdes in Angeles City (Good Friday late morning).

The passion play is performed by actors who I suspect are thugs, stevedores and butchers from the nearby Pampang market, because they chase the actor playing Jesus and beat him up with such realism and violence the poor guy often ends up in the local clinic. It even has a live crucifixion which tourists from Clark and Koreatown must pay an entrance fee of P200 to see.

Photo courtesy of Ivan Anthony Henares

The EXTREME PENITENTS (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday).

They’re all over Pampanga, but it takes luck to catch them—the cross-bearers who carry electric posts and huge banana trunks (seen in Brgy. San Agustin in Magalang), the women cross-bearers, the transvestite cross-bearers, the cross-bearers who tie a samurai around their waist with the tip pressed against their chin to keep their heads up, and the cross-bearers who are tied together to the same cross so that they can take turns carrying it (seen in Dau). In Brgy. Pampang, Angeles City I saw a cancer-stricken mother carrying a cross while her entire family prayed the rosary and followed her around. And then there are the dreadful magsalibatbat, who crawl on the road for miles, rubbing their skin continuously against the concrete until they’re all bruised and covered with dirt. Those who look for actual crucifixions can also try Brgy. Telapayung in Arayat, where they are more private and more heartfelt.

Picture courtesy of Jerry Punzalan Sagmit

The TANGGAL of Guagua (Good Friday).

This is the ritual where a life-size statue of Jesus with moveable neck and joints is taken down from the cross and laid down and dressed up to become the Santo Entierro (The Interred Christ). The town’s Velez-Zaragoza clan performs the elaborate ritual with the same care and solemnity as I imagine a family would prepare a departed member for burial. In the past, parish workers closed all church doors and windows and banged metal to simulate the eclipse and the thunderclaps that supposedly accompanied the Crucifixion, and to arouse the same fear and awe experienced by the Jews. Today, we just rely on the rhetoric and theatrics of the Sieta Palabras speakers.

Picture courtesy of Ivan Anthony Henares

The PASO of Bacolor (Good Friday).

The entire province quiets down as night falls on Good Friday, when parishes hold hushed processions of their heirloom santos, led by the Santo Entierro and the Mater Dolorosa. They’re all happening simultaneously: the candlelit carrozas of Arayat which transport you back in time, the sweet sound of violins playing Stabat Mater in San Fernando (added attraction: rose petals thrown from the balcony of the Rodriguez Mansion), the pomp, pageantry and piety of Sta. Rita reminiscent of Lino Brocka’s Tinimbang ka Ngunit Kulang, the breathtaking beauty of the Mater Dolorosa of Guagua, and the grandeur of the Santo Entierro of Sasmuan. But if you have to attend only one, make it Bacolor, the colonial capital of the province, whose old families, driven away by the lahars of the 1990s, make a sentimental journey back home to accompany their respective paso (float). Tradition dictates that they wear black, cover their heads with pointed hoods, hold icons of the crucifixion and walk barefoot (probably a legacy from ancestors in Seville, Spain). The antiquity and craftsmanship alone of the santos and their silver-plated carrozas will make your jaw drop.

Picture courtesy of Dr. Raymund Feliciano

The UNUSUAL BIYERNIS SANTO PROCESSION of Sasmuan (Good Friday)

Unusual because the grim procession of the dead Jesus and His grieving Mother is followed by a grimmer procession of magdarame (flagellants and cross-bearers). Sasmuan is the only place I know where this strange mix of the folk and the orthodox is allowed. Parish priests often make an effort to eliminate cultural practices to purify the theology of church rituals. For example, the pasyon mustn’t replace the Bible, the puni mustn’t compete with the visita iglesia, and the penitensya musn’t keep people away from the sacrament of confession. But Kapampangans have stubbornly stuck to their folk traditions, and the archdiocese is now finding ways to compromise.

This is Pampanga, where church piety collides with folk defiance, where the holiest days of the year are celebrated in the unholiest manner, where the charming and solemn rites of the Church coexist with the raw, bloody, but ultimately more exuberant rituals of the common folk.

First posted by Robby Tantingco on his facebook page, 21 March 2016.

ROBBY TANTINGCO is the Director of the Center for Kapampangan Studies and Vice President for External Affairs of Holy Angel University. He is the author of "Destiny and Destination" and "Pinatubo: The Volcano in our Backyard" which won a National Book Award. He also wrote the story of the film, “ARI: My Life with a King”, a language advocacy film that won Best Story and Best Screenplay awards from the 2016 Metro Manila Filmfest, Gawad Urian and FAMAS for Best Story.

41. DR. R. FELICIANO'S 14 FAVORITE LENTEN IMAGES IN PAMPANGA

DR. RAYMUND FELICIANO is a clinical pathologist who currently teaches pathology subjects at St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City. A resident of Angeles, his roots are in Mabalacat. He, however, is a doctor  with a unique passion. For over three decades now, he has been taking pictures of our Holy Week traditions--santos, religious processions, churches, Lenten exhibits--all over the Islands, from back in the days of analog photography to the age of digital cameras. 

A photography buff since his high school days at Chevalier School, Dr. Feliciano was inspired to travel  by watching Susan Calo-Medina’s TV show “Travel Time”.  He started in 1987, and began toting his instamatic cameras to interesting places where he took pictures of provincial scenes. But when he got hold of Ricky Jose’s book, “Simbahan”, he decided to focuse on religious subjects—and has not stopped since. The results of this lifetime undertaking are hundreds of santo photos compiled in over 50 albums and donated to the Center for Kapampangan Studies of Holy Angel University in Angeles City. 

After having seen thousands of processional santos, he has come up with a list of his 14 favorite, best-looking Semana Santa images that he shares with us, in this blog.

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The San Pedro statue of Lubao rides a spectacular carroza of the chariot-type. 

Arayat's antique "Manalangin" features a chalice-bearing angel dressed in short pants.

Angeles' "Macagapus" was carved in 1834 with Valentin Tuason as the original owner. It was passed on to his Nepomuceno heirs.

The Senor Desmayado  of Guagua was commissioned by one of the town’s leading citizens, Don Tiburcio Dyco. It was carved in 1882 by the accomplished sculptor, Sotero Dionisio Garcia of Quiapo, Manila.

The small Paciencia image of Guagua is owned by the Familia Cabrera and is a certified antique. 

Porac's Tercera Caida (Third Fall of Christ) comes from the Santa Catalina Parish of this old Kapampangan town, and is known for its complete, well-proportioned character images.

The antique image of Sta. Rita's La Veronica is owned by the Familia Pineda, a prominent family of the town, which also owns a Third fall of Christ paso.

"Macapacu Qng Cruz" or the Crucifixion is also known as Santa Misericordia. It was commissioned in 1907 by Dna. Francisca Evangelista. It was inherited by Leonora Panlilio, and passed on to her present descendants.

Angeleños take pride in their own “Apung Mamacalulu”, or the Lord of Mercy, depicting the image of the dead Christ. It was commissioned by Fr. Macario Paras between 1828-1838, carved by an artisan named Buenaventura.

The spectacular calandra of Sasmuan that contains the body of the dead Christ is owned by the Mercado family. 

Mabalacat's Sta. Maria Jacobe is an antique image that was transported to Pampanga from the Visayas, by a family member when he came to work here, where it was known as Sta. Salome.

The Sta. Salome of Angeles is a transformed image of La Veronica--which is equipped with two heads-- made in 1835 for Vicente Dison. It is still with the Dison descendants.

The antique image of Sta. Maria Magdalena of Arayat is from the prominent Santos-Medina-Samia family.\,who own a host of other processional images like San Juan and Santo Entierro.

The century-old San Juan of San Simon in Pampanga is a short, stocky image that is a fixture in the Good Friday procession of the town.

Hailed as one of the most beautiful Dolorosas in the country, the antique ivory Dolorosa of the Limson Family of Guagua.  Its earliest could be traced to Diego Limson (ca. late 1850s-early 1860s) who married Severina Jingco.

PHOTO SOURCES: 

Tercera Caida: Reichardt Dino, (flickr name: asky)

Paciencia: courtesy of Jerry Punsalan Sagmit

Magdalena: courtesy of Arwin Lingat, (flickr name: pampanga)

Dolorosa: courtesy of Dr. Dindo Limson Juco

Crucifixion, Sta. Jacobe: Alex R. Castro

All others: courtesy of Dr. Raymund Feliciano (flickr name: emongfeliciano)