Sarzuela
times. It was staged for three nights, and sometimes winded up at early dawn. An image of St. Paul was paraded around town at the tailend of an evening procession, together with images of other saints. As the procession returned to the church, it passes in front of the hermano mayor’s house where an arch designed in the shape of a heart has been erected. As St. Paul passes underneath the arch, the heart opens and a young boy dressed as an angel deposits a bouquet of flowers at the foot of the image. The fiesta attracted people who eagerly awaited the festivities, especially those who came from nearby towns. Ash Wednesday marked the beginning 38 Ilocos Sur: An Illustrated History 48
of the Lenten season, highlighted by the reading, through the singing of verses of the Pasyon, a recounting of the birth of Christ, His crucifixion and resurrection. According to De los Reyes, the Ilocanos organized several choral groups to read the Pasyon every night in houses or chapels. He described the ritual thus: “One woman in a singsong voice begins to recite the stanzas from the book Passion, the second woman answers with the following stanza, then the third sings other verses and again the first singer answers continuing the sequence, shifting from high to low pitch.” Palm Sunday and Holy Thursday were the two occasions during the Lenten