LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March
L. Fianza
BAGUIO CITY -- The lazy days of Holy Week are usually spent with family and old acquaintances. But this time Media Camp Peppot, named after the late newsman Jose Nicolas Ilagan, was unusually lonely. The southeastern spot of Burnham Park is where ties are renewed and not so solemn parties are held from Palm Sunday up to the late hours of Easter Sunday.
However, for the first time since the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club, Inc. (BCBC) occupied that corner 12 years ago, Camp Peppot was opened to local tourists who came up to the city to beat the lowland heat, sans the usual media organization.
What was not missed were the person to person or face to face political maneuvers by politicians and their supporters. As normal as it had been since it started in February, fake news, recycled news and smear campaigns continued, especially against the presidential frontrunner.
I think Holy Week in tourist destinations like Baguio will be “unholy” everytime, and will always be a sub-activity to politics. This is so, especially in an election season when politicians catch up with voters who are vacationing here.
Aside from mudslinging politicians, we saw businessmen selling everything genuine and fake, taking advantage of the Holy Week and big lowland crowds that came up to Baguio and Benguet.
It was also on a Holy Tuesday six years ago when then US President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro discussed reconciliation, new life and tying a broken cord. That led to thousands of Cubans going home after their self-exiles.
But there was an unholy contrast in Brussels six years ago when a series of three bombs exploded at the airport, immediately killing 34 and injuring 230. While the Christian world was in the Lent, Belgians were slaughtered by Islam extremists.
Going through religion books is helpful. There was already fake news 2000 years ago when high priests launched hate campaigns against Jesus because many believed what he preached. Then he was arrested, tortured and crowned with thorns on his head as he carried his cross to the hill where he was crucified.
Prior to that, the Jews and Israelites welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem while waving palm branches, but within days the same people called for his crucifixion after believing the fake news peddled by the high priests who accused him of blasphemy for claiming he was the son of God.
The Jews and Israelites waved palm branches to welcome Jesus. Hence, Palm Sunday. The palms could also be any plant branch, thus the terms “Branch Sunday,” Domingo de Ramos and Dimanche des Rameaux.
In some countries in Europe, real palms are unobtainable, so that people use these plants such as olive branches in Italy, yew, spruce, willows and pussy willows. In other places, some plants were called “palms” because of their usage, as the yew in Ireland, the willow in England called “palm-willow” and in Germany – “Palmkatzchen”.
From the use of willow branches, Palm Sunday was called “Willow Sunday” in some parts of England and Poland, while in Lithuania Palm Sunday was called “Verbu Sekmadienis” or Willow-twig Sunday. The Greek Church uses the names “Sunday of the Palm-Carrying” and Hosanna Sunday”.
Hundreds of years ago, it was customary to bless not only branches but also flowers of the season. Hence the name “Flower Sunday'', Flowering Sunday or Blossom in England, Blumensonntag in Germany, Pasques Fleuris in France, and Pascua Florida in Spain.
The next Sunday after Palm is called Easter. It is linked to the Jewish Passover. In many languages, too, “Easter” and “Passover” are identical and very similar terms. Passover was the Jewish festival that took place before the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.
The two holidays have been entangled since the beginning so that the word “Pasch” that meant “Passover”, later came to mean Easter. The Passover, as we know, originally developed from the time Moses was ordered by God to confront the Pharaoh as told in the book Exodus.
The confrontation gave rise to a competition of powers between the two that led to nine plagues against Pharaoh. Still, the Pharaoh did not want to free the Israelites so God brought down a 10th and most fearsome plague.
The last plague was that every firstborn offspring in every house in Egypt would die that night except those who remained in houses where a lamb had been sacrificed and its blood painted on the doorposts of that house.
The promise was that everyone would be safe. Death would “pass over” that house. So this day was called Passover. For the Pharaoh, his loss would be that “his son and heir to the throne would die” if he did not obey.
Happy Easter to all.
BAGUIO CITY -- The lazy days of Holy Week are usually spent with family and old acquaintances. But this time Media Camp Peppot, named after the late newsman Jose Nicolas Ilagan, was unusually lonely. The southeastern spot of Burnham Park is where ties are renewed and not so solemn parties are held from Palm Sunday up to the late hours of Easter Sunday.
However, for the first time since the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club, Inc. (BCBC) occupied that corner 12 years ago, Camp Peppot was opened to local tourists who came up to the city to beat the lowland heat, sans the usual media organization.
What was not missed were the person to person or face to face political maneuvers by politicians and their supporters. As normal as it had been since it started in February, fake news, recycled news and smear campaigns continued, especially against the presidential frontrunner.
I think Holy Week in tourist destinations like Baguio will be “unholy” everytime, and will always be a sub-activity to politics. This is so, especially in an election season when politicians catch up with voters who are vacationing here.
Aside from mudslinging politicians, we saw businessmen selling everything genuine and fake, taking advantage of the Holy Week and big lowland crowds that came up to Baguio and Benguet.
It was also on a Holy Tuesday six years ago when then US President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro discussed reconciliation, new life and tying a broken cord. That led to thousands of Cubans going home after their self-exiles.
But there was an unholy contrast in Brussels six years ago when a series of three bombs exploded at the airport, immediately killing 34 and injuring 230. While the Christian world was in the Lent, Belgians were slaughtered by Islam extremists.
Going through religion books is helpful. There was already fake news 2000 years ago when high priests launched hate campaigns against Jesus because many believed what he preached. Then he was arrested, tortured and crowned with thorns on his head as he carried his cross to the hill where he was crucified.
Prior to that, the Jews and Israelites welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem while waving palm branches, but within days the same people called for his crucifixion after believing the fake news peddled by the high priests who accused him of blasphemy for claiming he was the son of God.
The Jews and Israelites waved palm branches to welcome Jesus. Hence, Palm Sunday. The palms could also be any plant branch, thus the terms “Branch Sunday,” Domingo de Ramos and Dimanche des Rameaux.
In some countries in Europe, real palms are unobtainable, so that people use these plants such as olive branches in Italy, yew, spruce, willows and pussy willows. In other places, some plants were called “palms” because of their usage, as the yew in Ireland, the willow in England called “palm-willow” and in Germany – “Palmkatzchen”.
From the use of willow branches, Palm Sunday was called “Willow Sunday” in some parts of England and Poland, while in Lithuania Palm Sunday was called “Verbu Sekmadienis” or Willow-twig Sunday. The Greek Church uses the names “Sunday of the Palm-Carrying” and Hosanna Sunday”.
Hundreds of years ago, it was customary to bless not only branches but also flowers of the season. Hence the name “Flower Sunday'', Flowering Sunday or Blossom in England, Blumensonntag in Germany, Pasques Fleuris in France, and Pascua Florida in Spain.
The next Sunday after Palm is called Easter. It is linked to the Jewish Passover. In many languages, too, “Easter” and “Passover” are identical and very similar terms. Passover was the Jewish festival that took place before the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.
The two holidays have been entangled since the beginning so that the word “Pasch” that meant “Passover”, later came to mean Easter. The Passover, as we know, originally developed from the time Moses was ordered by God to confront the Pharaoh as told in the book Exodus.
The confrontation gave rise to a competition of powers between the two that led to nine plagues against Pharaoh. Still, the Pharaoh did not want to free the Israelites so God brought down a 10th and most fearsome plague.
The last plague was that every firstborn offspring in every house in Egypt would die that night except those who remained in houses where a lamb had been sacrificed and its blood painted on the doorposts of that house.
The promise was that everyone would be safe. Death would “pass over” that house. So this day was called Passover. For the Pharaoh, his loss would be that “his son and heir to the throne would die” if he did not obey.
Happy Easter to all.
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