The Naga City’s Grand Holy Friday Procession

The Naga City’s Grand Holy Friday Procession

Mary Magdalene, the Supermodel

Virgin Mary, the Victorian Countess 

(Bicol Cuaresma Series 5)

There is nothing grander than

the holy week procession in Naga City

that we get to witness every year,

...and we, Naguenos are treated to the pomp

and pageantry of  beautiful larger than life

images of saints dressed ostentatiously

and paraded in colorful carozzas.

My wife always look forward on seeing

her favorite Saint- Mary Magdalene, whom she finds

as always elegantly decorated with fresh flower topiaries,

and daintily dressed with beautiful exquisite flowing clothes

of the finest silk and  delicate European laces.

She is mysteriously lighted with real candles

on her carroza, instead of usual electric lamps

that adds to her allure and  mystery - making you 
see less  of her and leaves you wanting to see 
more of her candle lit indistinctness.

I would tease her that the image is Naga Cathedral’s

version of Mary Magdalene as a super model.

My personal favorite is the Soledad.

The grandness of her carroza stuns me.

She has an imposing larger than life figure

and she’s always dressed like a Victorian royalty.

I have always wondered if Mary, the Mother of God

would ever dress herself like a countess?

Whenever I watch the Naga Holy Week procession,

I always classify the images to 3 groups,

The first group are  white faced antique images 
which have been a regular fare for a long very time.

.

These are life sized white faced images

but lot smaller compared to the newer Saints.

…which I suspect are made of ivory

and are centuries old as they have been a part

of the procession even when I was still a young boy.

The beautiful Mater Dolorosa, the very last image

in the procession, belongs to this group-

 

...and so was the Santo Entierro.

The second group are what I call the recent regulars,

a newer generation of beautiful images that joined 
the procession in the  mid to late 1990’s.

 

These are larger than life images-

beautifully decorated and well designed carrozas

Most of the images in this group depicts

the stations of the cross at the

Passion of the Christ. 

The third group is the grandiosely huge images

elaborately dressed with the best  and lavish

fashion of Renaissance and Victorian eras.

They had imposing facades,

and superbly decorated carrozas.

 

These newer images appeared in the 2000’s

and had added color, splendor and pomposity,

...to the present line up of Naga City’s

Good Friday procession-







...and makes the yearly procession worth waiting for 
until the next holy week celebration.
  

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