Coming from a three-year hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions, Mayor Matt Erwin Florido assured that this year’s Buhay na Kubol Festival 2023 will be the grandest event for the Holy Week celebration on April 3-9.
In an interview on Thursday, Florido said the events they have lined up as part of the festival include local artists’ depiction of the life and passion of Jesus Christ.
He explained that “kubol” means hut, several of which will be put up to represent the 14 Stations of the Cross. In each kubol or station, artists will act out the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
Florido said on Holy Wednesday, the actors would only stand like statues in the kubol as part of the “Istasyon Heneral”. They will only move on Good Friday during the “Prusisyon Heneral” or procession and act out parts of Jesus’ life on earth in each of the huts afterward.
The mayor added that on Good Friday, spectators will get to witness the Centurion Festival where players will be clad as Roman soldiers, as well as the “penitensya” where men flogging themselves apparently as atonement for their sins, will parade on the streets.
Florido is particularly proud of the Senakulo — a stage play depicting the Passion of Christ to be performed by artists of the Sariaya Tourism Artists Guild at the municipal hall late afternoon on Black Saturday.
“I’m personally grateful to Sariaya Mayor Marcelo Gayeta for allowing a collaborative effort of his town’s talented artists and our own talents to stage the Senakulo,” he said.
On the first hour of Easter Sunday, the traditional “salubong” will be held, where the meeting of the risen Jesus and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, will be reenacted.
The mayor said they expect thousands of local and foreign tourists to visit their town during the entire Holy Week to witness the events, and they expect local businesses to make better sales during this period.
However, as a fourth-class municipality, Florido admitted that they still lack ample accommodation for tourists, so most tourists cannot stay overnight. (PNA)
