By Leo Cloma

Many families in the Philippines bring out processional images and tableaux during Holy Week. Some people assume that these “pasos” and their “carrozas” are Spanish colonial antiques, the last remnants of an anachronistic and deservedly-dying tradition.

In reality, the tradition of Holy Week processions in the Philippines is healthy and thriving. As new parishes are established, more and more processional images are being commissioned by pious individuals and their families. New ideas for tableaux from the life of Christ are devised and executed, with no real colonial era antecedents. And Good Friday processional line-ups keep getting longer and longer.

Here is the saga of one Filipino family’s year-long initiative to commission a Holy Week processional tableau. To find out what the members of the motley group in this photograph have in common, read “Ang Pagkarapâ,” a four-part series that begins here. Click on the link at the end of each part to continue.

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