Good Friday, Pateros

As in many other municipalities in the Philippine archipelago, the town of Pateros, situated south of the national capital, lead by its local government and Roman Catholic Church leaders, mark the Friday before Easter Sunday with a grand but solemn procession of icons and images, some, generations old, depicting the personalities and events associated with the last days of Christ's Passion. Devotes or namamanatas join in the procession, candles lit and reciting prayers and singing songs on the Passion of Christ, a moving and living prayer, if you will, dedicated to reflecting on the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In the heat of the summer night, they endure this ceremony patiently, joining in the Passion and suffering of the Lord. In doing so, they hope to cleanse themselves of their sins, anxieties, discouragement, frustrations of the past and frivolous year, all in preparation for the coming resurrection of the Lord and Savior, that is traditionally marked with Sunday's Easter celebration..