CULTURE
A
Passion for Pasyon
During the Japanese
occupation, they held pabasa in hushed voices by the river to avoid being
caught by the Japanese soldiers. Come war or high water, as far as Aling
Alegre remembers, her family reads the Pasyon every Lenten season.
BY
DEE AYROSO
Bulatlat
As far as Alegre
Diones remembers, her family had been holding a pabasa every 19th
of March every year. She said it signals the start of the Lenten season,
much like how Christmas songs start the holidays. You know Lenten is here
when pabasa is in the air.
The pabasa
(literally “reading”) is the singing of Pasyon or the narrative
text about the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a
Filipino Lenten tradition which started during Spanish occupation. The
Spanish friars modified the teaching of the Bible and made use of the
indigenous oral tradition of telling stories.
Aling Alegre, 68, a
retired employee from Tanauan, Batangas, is one of those who try to keep
the tradition alive. She and her two other sisters held three separate
pabasas this year.
In the Diones family,
everybody knows how to read the Pasyon, from those who are in their
70s down to the five-year-old children. The family is now based in
flood-prone Navotas, but the high water level does not stop the annual
holding of pabasa.
“Nakagisnan ko na
‘yan noon pang giyera.
Tinatanong ko sa Lola ko saan galling.Sagot niya, sa lolo niya rin,”
(We have held pabasa since I was a child. I ask my grandmother
where it came from. She replied that it came from her grandfather.) said
Aling Alegre. The Pabasa is always on March 19, the birthday of a
great, great grandfather named Jose who was born on the feast of St.
Joseph.
During World War II,
Aling Alegre recalled how they held their Pabasa even when they
lived in Taguan (hiding place) by the river to avoid being noticed by
Japanese troops.
“Kinakanta namin
nang mahinang-mahina, marahang-marahan,” (We sing very silently and
slowly.) Aling Alegre recalled. They had salabat (ginger ale) with
camote as Lenten fare.
After the war, her
community returned to the barrio, and there they again read Pasyon,
this time loudly and fearlessly.
To the tune of
Asin
There is a certain
way of singing the Pasyon which is divided into stanzas consisting
of five lines each. Each line has eight syllables. The melodies vary
depending on the language. Aling Alegre said that she could sing
pasyon in Tagalog and Bicolano. Her late mother, Josefa Carandang,
knew the Pasyon by heart and sang it even without looking at the
book.
Professional
pasyon singers, called cantoras make the rounds of pabasas
during Holy Week. The host of the pabasa feeds the cantoras
who do not accept payment.
In Aling Alegre’s
household, the pasyon is sung only by her family members and
neighbors who know how to read pasyon. They do not approve of the
way some sing the Pasyon to the tune of current pop hits.
She said that once,
her son sent home some of his friends because they tried to sing Pasyon
to the tune of a folk song by the band Asin (Filipino word for salt).
The family maintains
an atmosphere of sobriety and seriousness during the pabasa.
“Kapag
nagpapabasa, hindi kami masaya, hindi nagbibiruan, hindi ‘yung parang
piyesta. Paano mo mapi-feel kung niloloko mo?” (During the pabasa,
we are serious, we don’t joke around, there’s no fiesta. How could you
feel what you’re reading if you make fun of it?) said Aling Alegre.
Aling Alegre said
that one or her sons had suggested that they use a sound system so the
whole neighborhood can hear the pabasa. She disapproved because
she said it reduces the solemnity of the activity.
Feeling and
reading
Aling Alegre said
there are many lessons to be learned in the story of Christ’s suffering
and resurrection as recounted in the Pasyon.
“Kung talagang
didibdibin mo, masakit sa dibdib. Pag masakit sa dibdib, magbabago ka,”
(If you will take it seriously,
it’s heartwrenching. If so, it can change you) she said. Her whole family
even reads the last page together to get a better feel of the Pasyon.
The original Pasyon
text was written in Tagalog in 1704 by Gaspar Aquino de Belen, a
native from Batangas who worked for a Jesuit press in Manila. It was
entitled Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Natin na Tola.
Through the Pasyon,
the Filipino poor could easily relate to Christ’s life, sacrifice and
ascension to heaven as they search for hope and purpose in their own lives
and struggle.
Other families who
host the pabasa prepare food for anybody who would come to sing the
Pasyon. The pabasa could take two to three days, depending
on the melody, and if the complete Pasyon is read. In Aling
Alegre’s household, they start from 6 a.m. and finish by 10 p.m.
She hopes the family
tradition of sharing Christ’s passion will be continued by her children.
“Sabi ko sa kanila,
basta kung ano ang binabasa n’yo, ilagay n’yo sa loob n’yo,”
(I tell them: You should feel with your
heart whatever you are reading) Aling Alegre said. Bulatlat
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