Yap, Anne Ray C.

BSID3A

Senakulo and Pasyon

Senakulo:

Senakulo was the depiction of the Passion of Christ in a dramatic and well-rehearsed

action. It started in 1904 in Barrio Dayap, area covering three barangays in Cainta – Sto.

Domingo, Sto. Nino, and Sta. Rosa. Filipinos set up cross on a vacant lot believing that it can

drive away evil spirits. It is also believed that there was an unfamiliar yet powerful scent that

was derived from the cross. Because of this, every Lenten season, people start to read the

Seven Last Words of Christ or the Pasyon. This tradition passed from time to time as it lasted for

a week, from Palm Sunday up to the Easter Sunday.

 Senakulo was traditionally a Lenten play, narrating the long sequence of episodes from

the Old and New Testaments, with an emphasis on the life, sufferings, and resurrection of Jesus

Christ. It is presented on a stage, on the streets, in a Church, or in an open arena lasting for

about 1 to 2 hours.

Christ is presented as meek and masochistic, a lamb accepting death in obedience to

authority. In contrast, modern senakulo tend to focus on Christ’s reason and resolve in standing

up against their oppressors. Most projected episodes are the judgment of Jesus, the

Crucifixion, and His Seven Last Words.

Pasyon:
 Pasyon is a verse narrative of the life and suffering of Jesus Christ. In the late colonial

period, pasyon was filled with layers of nationalist, anticlerical, and anticolonial meaning.

Where the revolutionary leaders were associated with Christ and the peasants and nationalists

were his disciples, in pursuing the independence. It is also said that the execution of Jose Rizal

was one in the text in pasyon, where Rizal’s killing reflected Christ’s death.

Pasyon may be written in English, Tagalog, or any languages like Ilocano, Ilongo,

Cebuano, Waray, etc. Continuous singing of the pasyon in various melodies and musical styles

was practiced in the Philippines. It can also be chanted, rarely, during wakes and death

anniversaries, and in the evening of the Holy Thursday, during the reenactment of Christ’s Last

Supper.

The text is a form of oral tradition in an adaptation of the pre-Hispanic art of chanting

epic poems. The passion cycle was adapted into the native art, after the introduction of

Spaniards in Christianity. It was first written down in 1703 by Gaspar Aquino de Belen in an

indigenous form, “Ang Mahal na Pasion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Natin na Tola” or “The

Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ Our Lord that is a Poem”.