The City of Makati has been known as the country’s premier business district. To most people, what they refer to, as Makati would be the stretch of Ayala Avenue and the Ayala shopping centers. Yet, a lot of people would be surprised to know that the central business district and the Ayala Center used to be suburban area of Makati. For Makati is an old agricultural town where life is centered in what is known as Makati poblacion.
It is interesting to note that despite the Makati’s rapid urbanisation, it has retained some traditional old religious festival practices like the caracol and the traditional Semana Santa activities. These are not well known festivities outside of Makati, as they are not well publicized and are not commercialized festivals. I have heard of the Semana Santa in Makati sometime in 2007 but never had the time to visit and experience it. Sometime during a Holy Week visita iglesia in 2009, I was able to visit Padre Burgos in poblacion (along the entertainment district) where residents have set-up “puwestos” or altars.
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| Pabasa being done in a makeshift altar or puwesto |
Puwestos are makeshift altars set-up by either families or neighbourhood associations. This is where they hold the traditional pabasa. Each puwesto has an altar, with images some of them life-size. They are already set-up on Holy Wednesday and the pabasa is done starting on that evening till Black Saturday and for a few, till early Easter Sunday. It was in Padre Burgos where I chanced upon a puwesto managed by young devotees, where the pasyon was sung hip-hop style.
The center of religious festivities in Makati during the Holy Week is in St Peter Parish located off Burgos Street in poblacion Makati. The poblacion is the old district of Makati where the city actually started. St Peter Parish church is a charming quaint old church dating back to the 1800s. It used to be a visita during the Spanish time, being smaller than a regular church. The community that lives around this parish is a close-knit community, which is a rarity during this time in an urban area.
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| A puwesto ready for pabasa |
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| The different Holy Cross image |
There are 2 processions held during Semana Santa, the first one on Holy Wednesday and the 2nd one on Good Friday. The Good Friday procession is said to be the bigger one with more than 20 carosas participating, some of them bearing antique images owned by old families. Finally, after years of wanting to experience a traditional Semana Santa in Makati, I was able to attend the Holy Wednesday procession the day before I hied off for a Holy Week retreat last year.
The Prosesyon ng mga Krus started at exactly 6:00PM in when different images of the Holy Cross leave St Peter’s Parish church. The Holy Cross images, some of them antiques, are borne not on carosas but on the shoulders of men. Usually, the images are sponsored by families or neighbourhood associations who prepare them and organise the viadores who carry the cross on their shoulders.
The Holy Cross images come in various sizes, some of them, borne by only 1 or 2 persons
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| bare feet of the devotees carrying the cross |
Only male devotees are allowed to carry the images. Female devotees and children are only allowed to march alongside the procession. The viadores usually go barefoot and they serve in this procession as a panata.
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| A puwesto sponsored by Padre Zamora residents |
The procession goes around the old district of Makati. Along the way, the procession passes by different puwestos usually set-up by neighbourhood associations.
A lot of puwestos are set-up as altars with life-size images depicting characters and images in the Passion of Christ.
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| This puwesto is sponsored by Molave neighbourhood |
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| A life-size image depicting 'Jesus Falls for the 1st time' |
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| The life-size image Ece Homo |
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| Veronica |
The owner of the puwesto where the above image was enshrined, may have been an overzealous devotee. I never knew that St Veronica wore a tiara during her time.
Some puwestos are set-up as showcase of design and religious images. These type of puwestos are interesting.
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| A modern setting |
The puwesto above is more meant as a design showcase. It comes with a complete, updated sound system playing religious music. This puwesto did not host a pabasa.
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| Kawit or Makati? |
The above puwesto is one i couldn't understand. It is styled like the Shrine of Independence in Kawit, Kavite. I am not sure if the sponsor of this puwesto want to commemorate Philippine Independence or Semana Santa. Just to be in sync with the occasion, the sponsor of this puwesto placed a life-size image of Our Lady with a stained glass backdrop of an angel on the ground floor of a 2-story edifice.
The highlight of the procession is the Holy Cross from the parish and the Mater Dolorosa. From the streets of old Makati, the procession goes back to St Peter’s Parish. The whole route takes almost 3 hours to negotiate
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| The Holy Cross, the 2nd to the last image in the procession |
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| Mater Dolorosa. The image always comes last in a Holy Week procession |
The Prosesyon ng mga Krus signals the start of the Holy Week festivities in Makati. It is wonderful to note that this tradition has been preserved and moulded the community to be together. The Holy Week festivities in Makati are a slice of a provincial tradition set right in the doorsteps of the most urban city in the metropolis. A unique practice that has its own distinct features from what I saw in the provinces. Very few people I have met knew that one does not have to travel far to experience provincial tradition during the Semana Santa. They are even surprised when I told them about the traditional processions in Makati, as they always associate the city with the business and shopping district. The Semana Santa sa Makati is a gem of a religious festival in this age when festivals have become modernized and commercialised.
