You could say it has always been this way. In Mandalorian, this is the way. A month
before the Holy Week, practically all the resorts in and around the city are already fully-
booked for the duration of a week or a few days. It’s vacation or vacay mode. For those
who realize this too late yet still decide to join the bandwagon of Holy Week revelers
(contradiction intended) , theirs will be a harsh lesson indeed. With all establishments
inside the city closed for a few days, it’s either they do the walk-in routine, which is
almost a 99% fail, or just stay home. Clearly, planning ahead isn’t only good for the
office grind.
During one of our gigs, I sat for a while at a table occupied by genZ call-center workers
and they were excitedly talking about spending their Holy Week break climbing Mt. Apo.
Watching these animated young lads at their powwow, I realized the trek to our highest
mountain had already, through time, evolved into a Semana Santa tradition of sorts,
although old folkies have been frowning at this practice for a long time. For that matter,
other related pursuits, such as island hopping or simple overnight stays in resorts during
the said week are likewise targets of their scorn and disapproval. During one said Holy
Week in the early 80s for example, I went Camiguin Island with friends from Stanfilco
and we stayed in an old heritage house with our host. One evening (Holy Thursday, I
think it was), the owner saw us playing cards in our room and promptly brought in a
bible, not after gently admonishing us that we should be praying instead. I believe it’s
still pretty much the same these days; people in the provinces (who tend to be more
traditional and religious) have this profile of city folks as godless and not respectful. But
do the city folks care about this at all? Dedma.
However, if one cared to listen closely to Palm Sunday sermons during the last twenty
years, there’s always the subliminal message that decries the treatment of the Holy
Week as vacation time. Even as this template has remained like a constant reminder,
there will still be “Hudyos” (Jews, the ones who killed Jesus) as my mom liked to say.
With that, what else is new, things are still pretty much the same, aren’t they?
Years from now, (if that worldwide tsunami prediction turns out to be a scam), new gens
will still aim for the peak, resorts here and around Davao will still make a killing and the
religious will still be harping to the heavens, it’s the Holy Week, for Christ’s sake. At
best, all will have palm crosses pinned at their doors.
