๐ผ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ค ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐จ (๐๐๐๐จ-๐ฟ๐ช๐ฅ๐ค๐ก) ๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฉ๐
By Jhonil Bajado | ๐ฏ๐๐๐ , ๐บamar ๐บtate ๐ผniversity ๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ & ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Every year, during the celebration of the Holy Week, the confraternity called Palo Penitentes, an all-male ๐ค๐ฐ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ข, in the town of Palo, in the province of Leyte, draws attention because of the unique outfit of its members as they join the activities of the Holy Week celebration.
Some are disturbed and even mock their costumes and associate it with the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), a group of American white supremacists, right-wing terrorists, and hate-group whose alleged targets are African Americans, Jews, Asians, Native Americans, Catholics, as well as immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, and Muslims. They were popular in the mid 1800s and they used the costume to hide their identity.
In the annual brouhaha, some people in the social media would deduce the Palo Penitentes as a ๐๐ช๐ก๐ฉ.
Unbeknownst to many, the robe associated with the KKK is called ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฉ๐ – a Catholic pointed hat of conical form that is used in Spain and Hispanic countries by members of a confraternity of penitents. It is part of the uniform of such brotherhoods including the ๐๐ข๐ป๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ด and ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ด during Easter observances and reenactments during Holy Week in Spain and Mexico which can be traced to years earlier than the 1500s.
๐ท๐๐๐: ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐
When the Spanish missionaries arrived in the Eastern Visayan region in the late 1500s, they had already noticed the extra solicitousness and devotion of the people of Palo.
On his ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ด, Fr. Pedro Chirino, described the Palon-ons with much appreciation for their Christian manners “with very great affection, fervor and contentment.”
๐ฐ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐, ๐ณ๐๐๐๐: ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Fr. Chirino was very happy to see the people of Palo converted to the Christian faith. As observed by the Spanish missionaries, the people were very prayerful and dutiful of their religious tasks. Even when they are rowing their boats while fishing and sailing, they would sing and recite the doctrines.
They are so dedicated with the sacraments of the Church and one of the earliest recorded self-flagellation during the Holy Week celebration was in the very town of Palo as Fr. Chirino noted in 1596:
“..๐ญ๐๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ซ๐ฑ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ข๐ช๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ฑ๐, ๐ข๐ซ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐ข๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ, ๐ก๐ข ๐ช๐๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ข ๐๐ท๐ฌ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ก๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ค๐ฏ๐ข, ๐ฎ๐ฒ๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ช๐ฒ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ฐ, ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ช๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ก๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ซ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ ๐ข๐ฐ, ๐ฑ๐ฌ๐ก๐ฌ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ค๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ถ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ฌ.”
(particularly during Holy Week procession, apart from those who whipped themselves drawing blood, which were many, there were four hundred light-bearers, all with great silence and order…)
Hence, one of the earliest (if not the first) records of self-flagellation relative to the celebration of Holy Week in the Philippines is in Palo, Leyte.
๐ป๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ & ๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐. ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐๐
The parish priest of Palo that time, Fr. Pantaleรณn de la Fuente y Bueso, a Franciscan friar who is also known to initiate the building of the two imposing bell towers of the Palo Metropolitan Cathedral, was instrumental in the formation of the Palo Penitentes.
In order to discourage the flagellants in Palo during the Holy Week, he encouraged them to form instead a fraternal brotherhood which was the nucleus of the Palo Penitentes in the year 1894. He patterned it to the penitentes in his hometown in Southern Spain.
Fr. de la Fuente ordered from Barcelona some sculpted images of Christ’s Passion in order to give more color and meaning of the Holy Week celebration by the Palo faithful. To compliment the dramatic color of Christ’s suffering, crucifixion, death, and burial, he let the Palo Penitentes actively join the activities by letting them wear the penitentes robe and capirote which he also ordered from Spain.
๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐: ๐ป๐๐๐- ๐ซ๐๐๐๐
The robe of the Palo Penitentes was modified specially the hoods. Though it is the same with slit on the eye, the hood was classified as ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ (pointed) and ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ค๐ก (blunt), hence the local name ๐๐๐๐จ- ๐ฟ๐ช๐ฅ๐ค๐ก.
The pointed hood was worn by married Penitentes and the blunt hood for the bachelors. The Palo Penitentes is reserved for men only.
๐ฉ๐๐๐๐, ๐ด๐๐๐๐ ๐, & ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐: ๐ป๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐๐
The robe colors were patterned from the original white, violet, and blue colors in the Spanish tradition. However, it has been noticed recently that new colors (pink and black) were added to the original colors. The robes are usually girdled with a rope. They also wear a huge rosary above their hood.
Originally, the blue and white robes were for married Penitentes only. The murado (violet) was reserved for the unmarried members.
๐ช๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐ ๐๐๐: ๐น๐๐๐๐ & ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐
The general function of the Palo Penitentes is to keep order in the Good Friday procession of the ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐ค.
The bachelors, wearing the violet robes are acting as marshalls who are in-charge of keeping the order of the procession.
The married Penitentes who wear blue and white robes have specific functions too.
Originally, those in blue robes carry the andas (bier with shafts) especially that there were no carriages for the Santo Entierro before. With the colorful and artistic carriages today, they are the ones in-charge to push the carriage.
Meanwhile, the married men in white robes are assigned as escorts of the Santo Entierro. They were originally the cavalry escorts who rode on horses.
๐ช๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
The Palo Penitentes or Tais-Dupol tradition of Palo, Leyte mirrors the very strong devotion of the townsfolk, which can be traced in its town’s historical past. The emergence of the Palo Panitentes is more than a century already, hence engraved in the core of a tradition.
The importance of this tradition is embedded in the religious significance valued by the Penitentes themselves. Walking barefoot and wearing the robe in the scorching heat of summer has replaced the flagellation that the faithful of Palo has been performing to show their remorse in committing mortal and venial sins.
