Holy Week adventure

By Marifi Jara

Back in the 1980s, I particularly looked forward to family holidays in San Fabian, or elsewhere, timed during the Holy Week because that was an era before the advent of the smorgasbord of viewing pleasures offered by cable and satellite television.

With school out and most time spent at home just reading Nancy Drew books and watching television, Holy Week then meant a deprivation of my favorite local shows, especially the Filipino pop culture-pioneering Eat Bulaga (and looking at Joey de Leon and Vic Sotto now, why does it seem that they never age, physically and the sense of humor? Amazing, ‘di ba!).

I remember that the cast of Eat Bulaga would usually have a drama special on Holy Monday to Wednesday in lieu of their regular song-dance-and-games show. Most local channels were off the air Thursday to Saturday save for the occasional showing of Lent-related shows like the movie Jesus of Nazareth.

It was a gloomy week if we were stuck in Manila. But out here, the adventures were endless and television was never missed.

I particularly remember a road trip from here going up north and doing a visita iglesia of sorts at the colonial churches in Ilocos (some of which have, sadly, been renovated in recent years and made to look modern instead of being restored to maintain their 16th-18th century charm).

Inspired by that memory, I have been meaning over the past three years to go around the province during Lent and do a seven-church tour in different towns.

I have not actually mapped out my route yet, but I do wish to cover as much ground as possible and be able to come up with a sort of tour guide for friends and family who come around to visit and would like a religious-cultural journey on top of the usual beach bumming and inihaw na bangus feast experience.

Honestly, I am not a devout Catholic, or a practicing one for that matter. But I do believe that our deeply-grounded Catholic roots are an important facet of who we are as a people and could be explored as a tourism asset.

It would not just be about looking at beautiful, and not necessarily old, churches. It would also be both educational and fascinating to observe devotees in their spiritual rituals. And a ride through the Pangasinan countryside is guaranteed to be enjoyable.

Part of the church-hopping tour would be breaks at rustic shops and stalls for a drink, a light merienda, or a refreshing tall glass of the countryside variety of halo-halo. It would also be nice to make stops to buy some local goods, perhaps some fresh-from-the-farm singkamas, mangoes or pakwan. The last stop would ideally be a town that has a lovely collection of statues that are showcased in a solemn community procession in the evening.

The San Fabian church, of course, would be one of my stops, probably the first. Calasiao is also definitely on the list. So is Manaoag if only for its popularity. Suggestions to the list very much welcome.

Now who needs television, despite the hundreds of channel choices now, when there is so much out there waiting to be discovered.

(Readers may reach columnist at marifijara@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/
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