Philippines Culture: Celebrating Easter Sunday

by: A. Baetiong

This article is dedicated to all my relatives and friends who are in other 
parts of the country....

Why Catholic Filipinos Celebrate Easter Sunday?

Easter Sunday is a big day and will be celebrated for another fifty days.
Easter Season is a day of great joy because it is when the heaven is open
for all of us who like to be with God in heaven. It was closed for some time
when our first parents, Adam and Eve committed the original sin.

The resurrection of Jesus, three days after his death for our sins,
is being celebrated during Easter Sunday. It also holds a
deeper significance if viewed alongside Jewish traditions
that were vital at the time of Jesus.   Jesus died at the same
time as the sacrificial lambs were being killed in preparation
for the Passover, an important Jewish festival. Traditionally,
the lambs were sacrificed by the ancient Jews as payment
 for their sins. Therefore, Jesus became the ultimate payment
for everyone’s sins as he metaphorically became the
Passover Lamb that makes us all free of sin.

How Filipinos celebrate Easter Sunday?

Filipino families attend the Easter Sunday Vigil
or the Easter Sunday Mass.  This is a big celebration of singing and joy.
To many Filipinos, this is also a day of bonding with relatives.

Being the last day of a string of holidays, Easter Sunday becomes
the prime time for families to get together and bond  - to us,
it was also the time for a family reunion.

My father usually comes home around this time of the year,
just in time for the Lent so that he would be able to celebrate
 Lent with us. My brother also gets his days off starting Maundy
Thursday. This gave our family four days to bond together and
to celebrate this season as a happy, united family.

After celebrating the occasion at church, we bonded together
at home with a bountiful meal.

We invited our relatives over  and bonded with them too,
and they happily joined us in our get-together.
It became a time for us to catch up with one another,
as we talk over a delicious meal of tinola.

After the feast, we youngsters also bonded together
 by playing board games, playing music and singing
songs. The adults also had their share of the fun
singing songs, but mostly with the help of the karaoke.

 My mom also served leche flan as the night progressed
 to keep everyone full.

Before midnight, our relatives bid farewell and
returned back to their homes feeling happy and full.

Our cousins bonded with us and are surely looking
forward to another night like this soon.  On the other
 hand, our family feels closer than ever and feeling more blessed.
This is how we have spent our Easter Sunday as a family.

Were you also able to bond with your family this Easter Sunday?

Why not also try having them over this year?