Casa Gorordo holds Semana Santa house tradition
3:53 AM
Vernon Joseph Go
The Casa Gorordo Museum of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation
Inc. (RAFI) will hold its Semana Santa house tradition on April 3 and 6, which
are Holy Tuesday and Good Friday, respectively.
This house tradition features the
use of Casa Gorordo’s carrozas and
life-size image of the Nazarene and Veronica in the Holy Tuesday and Good
Friday processions of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
It begins with the installation of pasos (tableaus of life-size images depicting scenes of Christ’s passion
and death) and decoration of the carrozas
(carriages) on which they are set up in the morning. These pasos will be included in the processions of the Cebu Metropolitan
Cathedral in Cebu City’s downtown district. The procession on Holy Tuesday started
at 5:00 pm; and on Good Friday at 4:30 pm.
According to Dr. Jocelyn Gerra, executive
director of Culture and Heritage of RAFI, this had been a religious observance
of the Gorordo family, former owners of the Casa Gorordo, which was adopted by
the museum as part of RAFI’s advocacy to conserve intangible heritage
traditions of the family.
Casa Gorordo Museum’s curator,
Florencio A. Moreño II, said that one can see in the Semana Santa house
tradition a remarkable dynamism between the family, later, the museum, and the
larger community that it belongs to. He added that by engaging the public
through this long-held tradition, Casa Gorordo Museum makes itself a living
museum.
An exhibit entitled “Semana Santa: A
Casa Gorordo Tradition,” located at the museum’s chapel, was launched last
March 22 to anticipate the holding of the house tradition and to explain it to
the public. It also highlights the Passus
tradition in Bantayan town which has become a prominent tourist attraction.
The exhibit will run until April 15.
Semana Santa is one of the four
house traditions of the Casa Gorordo Museum. The other three are Sinug sa Casa Gorordo in January; Pista ni San Juan in June; and the
displaying of the Gorordo Belen in
December.
Culture & Heritage is a focus area of RAFI, believing
that a confident community begins with a strong sense of identity. Its other
focus areas are Integrated Development, Micro-finance & Entrepreneurship,
Leadership & Citizenship, and Education.
For more information on the house tradition and
the Semana Santa exhibit, please contact 418-7234 loc. 703 and look for
Florencio A. Moreño II, or visit www.rafi.org.ph
or www.facebook.com/rafi.org.ph.
