Ruby left to go to her family in a nearby province: Cousins are visiting from the Visayas.
I am alone with the animals and help and my step son.
Joy took the main computer with her, so Ruby has been borrowing this one, so I am behind in the news.
IIt is Easter season so the Philippines shuts down so people can go home to visit families. The banks are shut down for four days, and the ATM's run out of money.
It is also hot season, and we are having a hot spell. I skipped mass Sunday and will probably skip Easter mass if it stays this hot, although I might make it to the early morning mass, since the crowds will have attended the Easter midnight mass, which is the big celebration for Easter, and quite nice. Ruby's church will follow the Protestant custom of dawn service.
The custom here is to chant the Pasyon...a Tagalog poem about the passion and death of Jesus.
wikipedia explains:
The Pasyón is normally heard during Holy Week in the Philippines, where its recitation is known as the Pabása ("Reading"). The rite can span several days, extending no later than Black Saturday, but it is often ended on Good Friday at noon or before 15:00 PHT (GMT+8) – the traditional hour of Jesus' death on the cross.
Readers chant the Pasyón from beginning to end without pause; this non-stop recitation is facilitated by devotees chanting in shifts. The chanters usually perform the rite as a panatà ("vow"), or votive offering in request or thanksgiving. Devotees are frequently older women and some men, but in recent years younger Filipinos have shown an increased interest in the custom.
It is sung both at the local chapels and in home made ones...we have one "chapel" in the street a block away, but this year they aren't using loud speakers, so we can sleep.
I usually give a donation for food and snacks for the ladies who chant at our barangay chapel.
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