🇵🇭 VIGAN • Palaspas-Weaving, Waving: a Philippine Holy Week Culture

"This is just another Filipino culture that goes in 4 ways - arts, economy, religion and tradition..."

The Philipppines is probably the nation in Asia that celebrates Holy Week the most extensive way. During Holy Week in the Philippines, there are just arts and crafts that become an industry whenever the Season comes. Palaspas is a decorative palm fronds and it is an important seasonal commodity that Filipinos buy from the weavers to start the Holy Week which falls on a Palm Sunday.

Creative hands of a Palaspas weaver

These pieces of palaspas are being woven by people who are coming from one community. They live in a place rich in a type of palm tree locally called as silag or buri and contrary to what others have usually known, they do not use coconut leaves. The weavers all came from the town of San Juan in Ilocos Sur.

The whole Roman Catholic community is doing this Holy Week culture and I am just featuring one city which is notable in the Philippines for celebrating the Holy Week deeply and extensively which is Vigan City in the province of Ilocos Sur. They all gather at the corner of Liberation Boulevard and Jse Singson Street.

A young girl selling palaspas

Palaspas is brought by the Roman Catholic devotees to the church to be blessed as part of the Palm Sunday mass.

As the priest enters the church, the people wave their palaspas in commemoration of Jesus Christ's entry to Jerusalem.

However, right before Roman Catholicism was brought by the Spaniards to the Philippines, the Filipinos have been using palaspas and the origin of the Palm Sunday palaspas can be traced as early as the pre-Hispanic period.

As a brief history about this art and craft and according to the description of the 1589 account of Fray Juan de Plasencia, the Filipinos have been long before using the "leaves of a white palm wrapped in many designs."

Even some non-Catholic ethnic groups in the Philippines like the Tausugs use kidlat-shaped leaves as wedding decorations.

This practice was later absorbed in the Roman Catholic Faith with the palaspas used as decorative materials in fiestas in the Philippines.

The palaspas-making craft has been passed from generation to generations transfering the skill to the younger ones. I was actually able to talk with the oldest palaspas-weaver in the city at the age of 74 and with her that day are her children and grandchildren who are in the same way skillful in weaving palaspas.

For palaspas-weavers, this is actually a brisk business associated with the Holy Week and their creativity and skills in doing this art are unleashed.

Lola Conchita, the oldest palaspas-weaver in town told me that she can earn more than a thousand peso in this Palm Sunday Trade.

Lola Conchita sells her palaspas at 15 pesos each. However, some of the weaver-vendors near her can earn up to 3,000 pesos a day since their versions are much complicated, hence, the price is higher at 30 pesos.

The photo above is the Simbaan a Bassit along Liberation Boulevard in Vigan City and in front of this church is a bastion of a Holy Week market with palaspas as the exclusive commodity.

This is just another Filipino culture that goes in 4 ways - arts, economy, religion and tradition and for this post, it only happened in one city. It is very exciting to know what are also happening to other Philippine cities during the Holy Week.

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