The Casa Gorordo Museum of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) held its Semana Santa house tradition on Holy Tuesday and Good Friday.
The house tradition featured 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 began with the installation of pasos (tableaus of life-size images depicting scenes of Christ’s passion and death) and decoration of the carrozas (carriages) in the morning. The pasos were included in the processions of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral in Cebu City’s downtown district. The procession on Holy Tuesday started at 5 p.m.; and on Good Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Dr. Jocelyn Gerra, executive director of Culture and Heritage of RAFI, said Semana Santa tradition had been a religious observance of the Gorordo family—former owners of the Casa Gorordo—that was adopted by RAFI as part its 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 titled “Semana Santa: A Casa Gorordo tradition,” located at the museum’s chapel, was launched last March 22 to explain the house tradition to the public. It also highlights the Passus tradition in Bantayan town, northern Cebu, that 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.
For more information on the exhibit, Florencio Moreño II at 418-7234 local 703 or visit websites www.rafi.org.ph or www.facebook.com/rafi.org.ph.