SVD Philippines: Easter Salubong in the Philippines

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Easter Salubong in the Philippines

Salubong at Parokya San Miguel, Zamboanga Sibugay

In the Philippines, Easter (Paskò/Linggo ng Pagkabuhay) morning is marked with joyous celebration, the first being the dawn ceremony called the Salubong (Filipino for "meeting") that re-enacts the imagined reunion of Christ and his mother after the Resurrection. Statues of the Risen Christ and the Virgin Mary are borne in two separate processions that meet at a designated area called a Galilea, usually in the plaza fronting the church. Some locales include statues any or all of The Three Marys (Mary of Cleopas, Mary Magdalene, and Mary Salome), Saint Peter and Saint John the Evangelist in the processions, which are almost always sex segregated (i.e., male devotees follow Christ and the male saints; women follow the Virgin and female saints).

Salubong at Parokya San Miguel, Zamboanga Sibugay

The Virgin Mary is clothed or veiled in black to express her bereavement. A girl dressed as an angel, positioned on a specially constructed high scaffold or suspended in mid-air, sings the Regina Coeli in Latin or in the vernacular, and then dramatically removes the black veil to signify the end of Mary's grieving. This may also be done by other "angels" who pull off the veil, or tie it to balloons or doves and release these into the dawn sky. The Virgin is then called the Nuestra Señora de Alegria ("Our Lady of Joy") and confetti and flower petals are showered on the statues. The moment is marked by pealing bells and fireworks, followed immediately by the Easter Mass. In several parishes however, this is practiced at midnight of Easter Sunday immediately after the Easter Vigil, done in the very same manner.