The procession starts from the St. John the Baptist Church at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Good Friday after the Mass for the Seven Last Words or Siete Palabras. The images are atop floats or carozas, purposely made for the processesion. The carozas have wheels but are manually dragged. They are also decorated with colorful items such as fresh flowers and draperies.
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| The procession on its way out of the church's plaza with Mayon Volcano at the background. |
The images themselves are clothed with colorful linens. They also have accessories for them to portray the events of Jesus' crucificxion and death. There are carozas that has only one image, that of Mary Magdalene, and there are those that has more than ten just like the one that portrays the Last Supper.
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| A decorated caroza riding a beautifully dressed image of the Virgin Mary. |
The entire city's main thoroughfares are shut down for traffick to give way to the procession that because of the number of people taking part in it becomes very long. I do not have any information about the total distance covered by the procession, but the head of the procession reaches back the church after about two hours. There are times when the procession's head has already reached the church while the tail has just left.
Many devotees stay with the same caroza year after year as part of their "Panata" or promise or it's just their favorite. Among the favorites are the carozas of St. Peter which has a real white rooster perching beside the life-sized image. Many men would stay with that caroza because they believe that it will bring them luck especially in cockfighting. Children would also try to shoo the rooster to see if it is a real one. Sure enough, it is.
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| Group of devotees marching behind one of the carozas. |
Since the procession lasts until the night, carozas are fitted with lights to illuminate the images. As darkness covers the city, the beauty of the carozas become more visible as lamp lights flood over them.
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| The Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem, as portrayed in this caroza. |
Most of these carozas are not owned by the church or the priests. Their care and maintenance are done by some families who own these carozas. Most of them are well-off families around the parish who can afford the expensive maintenance - clothes and accessories for the images, repairs and decors for the caroza, generators for the lights, and payment for the people who would look after it during the procession. Many of the family care-takers also serve meals after the procession for those who took part in the procession. I don't have a count for the number of carozas but there are families that own more than one caroza.
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| The Last Supper, one of the largest carozas in the procession. |
While the procession attracts many people including tourists, let us not forget that the ocassion is about commemorating Jesus' death for our sins. May this be a holy experience for all those who want to take part in the procession this year.
