A Passion Forgotten

My Lola taught me
how to chant the Pasyon

My lola’s tradition of the Pabasa is dead.

For the information of those who were born in the age of Britney Spears, the pasyon is a verse narrative about the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ. The verses are structured in five-line stanzas, with each line containing eight syllables, and chanted alternatively by two groups of singers. The reading of the pasyon is a traditional religious practice in the Philippines and is seen by many of its practitioners as a vow or panata.

In the modern world of rap, pop, and rock music, the monotonous, at times, melancholic tunes of reading the life of Jesus is now an obscure practice, verging on what others may call a cultish tradition. But in my youth, this was a natural thing for us to do. My Holy Monday started with us reading the Pasyon in the chapel, with the public speaker reverberating loudly for all the parishioners to hear. Salabat and pan de sal overflowed in supply, for at the end of a few chapters, we would be thirsty and famished, and sometimes hoarse. Young people in my village in 2^nd Reyville came to participate, maybe because of the free bread, or their crushes were also there, or for the lack of better things to do (we had no cable or internet in the days of Caesar, you know!). All fast food chains were closed (hear ye, McDonald’s and Jollibee!), and no TV or radio programs could be seen or heard. Panata talaga!

Now, Lent is a time for a long vacay for many. And the Pabasa? I can say that it is now a forgotten tradition, and sadly, it can never be resurrected from the dead.


P.S.
My UPCC batchmate Melanie Dujunco, FB'd me this site about the pabasa that is happening now: http://www.mmda.gov.ph/news.html#apr182011

I stand corrected then. Some of us don't want the Pabasa buried. Salamat po sa kanila;-)