In The Philippines, a largely Roman Catholic nation, Holy Week, known as Semana Santa, is treated as one of the most important religious festivals of the entire year. At mass on Palm Sunday, Catholics carry “palaspas” or palm fronds to be blessed by the priest.

Many Filipinos bring home the palaspas after Mass and place these above their front doors or windows, believing that doing so can ward off evil spirits.

Holy Monday marks the beginning of the Pabasa (reading) or the Pasyon, the marathon chanting of the story of Jesus’ life, passion, and death, which continues day and night, for as long as two straight days.

A popular Holy Thursday tradition is the Bisita Iglesia (church visit), which involves visiting a church or several churches at which the faithful would pray the Stations of the Cross.

The last Mass before Easter, also celebrated on Holy Thursday, usually includes a reenactment of the Washing of the Feet of the Apostles;. This Mass is followed by the procession of the Blessed Sacrament before it is taken to the Altar of Repose.

Good Friday, a public holiday in The Philippines, is commemorated with street processions, the Way of the Cross, the commemoration of Jesus’ seven last words (Siete Palabras) and a Passion play called the Sinakulo.

In some communities (most famously in the province of Pampanga), the processions include devotees who self-flagellate and sometimes even have themselves nailed to crosses as expressions of penance or in fulfillment of a panata (a vow accomplished in thanksgiving or exchange for a granted request or prayer).

After three o’clock in the afternoon of Good Friday (the time at which Jesus is traditionally believed to have died), noise is discouraged, bathing is proscribed and the faithful are urged to keep a solemn and prayerful disposition through Black Saturday.

Easter morning is marked with joyous celebration, the first being the dawn Salubong, wherein statues of Jesus and Mary, along with other saints such as St. Peter and Mary Magdalene, are brought in procession together to meet, imagining the first reunion of Jesus and his mother Mary after Jesus’ resurrection.

The statue of the Virgin Mary is veiled in black, showing her state of bereavement.

A girl dressed as an angel, positioned on a specially constructed high platform or suspended in mid-air, sings the Regina Coeli and then dramatically pulls the veil off of the image, signifying the end of her grieving. This is followed by pealing bells and fireworks, and the joyous Easter Mass.

Throughout the week, serious television shows are shown on channels, especially films with a religious theme.

During the Easter Triduum, usually a public holiday, some television stations even postpone broadcast altogether until Black Saturday and establishments shut down operations until the said day in observance of this solemn occasion.

Here are the cities with its famous Holy Week celebrations: Angono, Baliuag, Bantayan Island, Malolos, Marikina City, Meycauayan (Bulacan), Paete, Pampanga and San Pablo City.