Proem

Today is Palm Sunday. In Spanish it is called Domingo de Ramos (Sunday of branches). In Sugboanon Bisaya we call it Bendita Lukay (Blessing of palm fronds).

In our religious culture, the Roman Catholic faithful takes palm fronds (lukay) and shape it into a cross. They then have this "cross" blessed with Holy Water by the priest.

(Note: Strictly speaking the Spanish word bendita means sainted, holy, or blessed. We adopted the word bendita into Bisayan and transform the meaning to holy water, or the act of blessing with holy water).

Pascua

The Spanish word Pascua means Easter, or the day of resurrection in English. Pascua is adopted into Bisayan as Pasko. So actually, the real Pasko is the Holy Week and not Christmas. The Bisayan word for Christmas is surapô. This word captures only the merrymaking and gift giving aspect of Christmas and did not include the worship of Jesus Christ. The Spanish priests did not like it so they used Pasko sa Pagkatawo for Christmas and Pasko sa Pagkabanhaw for Easter.

Since the Holy Week has many religious terms, the Pasko eventually got appended only to Christmas.

Here are Sugboanon Bisayan words for the Holy Week.

Holy Week - Balaan nga Pitlaw (Sp: Semana Santa)

Palm Sunday - Bendita Lukay (Sp: Domingo de Ramos)

Holy Wednesday - Tiniblas (Sp: tiniebla = darkness; hell)

Maundy Thursday - Pamúsà (Sp: Jueves Santo)

Good Friday - Biyernes Santo (Sp: Viernes Santo)

Black Saturday - Sabado Santo (Sp: Sabado Santo)

Easter Sunday - Pasko sa Pagkabanhaw (Sp: Domingo de Gloria)

Ascended to Heaven

Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. He stayed a while on earth among his disciples and later on ascended to heaven. The question is, where or what place on earth did Jesus Christ perform the act of ascending to heaven?

The answer is, Bethany. It is the same place where the house of Martha, Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus was located. (Read: Luke 24:50-51).

Last Food Eaten

The Last Supper was not the last meal of Jesus while on earth. His last meal was at the shore of Galilee together with his disciples. What were the last foods eaten by Jesus?
The answer is "broiled fish (sinugba nga isda) and honeycomb (panál). Read Luke 24: 42 for confirmation.

Disciple-Cousin

Do you know that four (4) or five (5) of Jesus twelve (12) disciples were his cousins?

The disciples John the Apostle and St. James were the sons of Zebedee whose wife Salome was a sister of Mother Mary. So they were first cousins of Jesus.

The disciples St. James the Lesser and St. Jude Thaddeus were the sons of Cleopas or Alpheus. The wife of Cleopas was also called Mary and designated as "the wife of Cleopas" to distinguish her from her sister Mother Mary. Therefore they were also first cousins of Jesus.

The disciple St. Mathew was a son of Cleopas or Alpheus. However, it is not clear whether the mother of St. Mathew was "Mary the wife of Cleopas." If it was, then he too was a first cousin of Jesus. If not, then St. Mathew was the half-brother of St. James the Lesser and St. Jude Thaddeus.

What is Meant by "Mary"?

The word Mary is not actually a name. It is supposed to be a designation of the female followers of Jesus. That is the reason why almost all women that were close to Jesus were called Mary. Note that the mother of Jesus was called Mary and the aunt of Jesus was also called "Mary" the wife of Cleopas, and so was Mary Magdalene.

If you will read carefully Matthew 27: 55-56, you will notice that Mother Mary's sister Salome was also called "Mary."

Comment

If you want to celebrate the last meal of Jesus Christ while on earth, then eat sinugbang isdà and panál (honeycomb). Not the honey or bread and wine.