Happening right now is the celebration of the Holy Week. All around the world, it is heralded as a religious celebration that everyone has come to respect. In the Philippines, its celebration is marked with the Ash Wednesday. The majority of the Filipinos have been practicing the rituals and traditions embarked on a Holy Week. However, it’s a big world of discovery and astonishment when you witness how Holy Week is being celebrated elsewhere.
Here is a quick run-down of the diverse traditions people do in the celebration of Holy Week.
The participation of kids during Bermuda’s celebration of Holy Week is an essential part of the fun and inspiring tradition. Dubbed as having one of the most colorful and spunky festivity, the people of Bermuda certainly do take flight with their kites and a scrumptious meal of codfish. The kite-flying is usually done by six to eight graders but tourists usually take part in the activity.
Why do they fly a kite you may ask? The story is quite fascinating. There was a Sunday school teacher telling a story about how Jesus rose from the dead. To provide a grasping image for his students, he flew a kite that symbolized Jesus’ ascension.
Brazil is a highly-catholic country with yearly festivals, carnivals, and celebrations that gathers tourists from all around the world. Towards the celebration of Lent, people build life-sized effigies of the person that betrayed Jesus. The Judas effigies are somewhat tortured, beaten, or thrown with stones. Some accounts would even say that people also go to great lengths as to shooting the effigy with fireworks.
After all of this ruckus is done, the already torn effigy of Judas is placed on top of a bonfire and people celebrating gets to watch as the effigy s burned.
In Italy, the most essential Easter tradition that people wait for is the Via Crucis. With the participation of the pope, the Via Crucis happens at the Temple of Venus and the Colosseum. The Stations of the Cross gives a person a graphic depiction of Jesus Christ’s final moments before ascension.
If you celebrate Easter in Poland, you need to carry waterproof clothes or raincoats. The “Wet Monday” also referred to as lany poniedzialek. It is a Monday tradition where people throw water on each other. For them, eggs are not the only symbols of life and renewal.
Although it was previously condemned because of its bloody portrayal, this doesn’t stop loyal and firm believers to have their hands hammered or drag heavy and nailed crosses on their backs. For the Filipinos, this is their way of showing devotion to the savior Jesus Christ.
Every nation may have its own traditions or festivity in celebrating the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, despite these differences, we are all united in faith and humanity.
Photos: Pexels.com
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