In Bulacan, carriages used for Holy Week tell Christmas story, too

Although normally a Holy Week tradition, ornate “carrozas” (carriages or floats) paraded the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bulacan’s City of San Jose del Monte on Saturday, Christmas Eve. The carrozas were put together by the Sagrada Familia Parish. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

CITY OF SAN JOSE DEL MONTE—Ornate “carrozas” (carriages or floats), which are paraded through streets during Holy Week in Bulacan province, are teaching children the Nativity—the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger—in this city.

Five carrozas portrayed the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple and the Finding of Jesus Christ in the Temple, all representative of the Catholic Rosary’s Joyful Mysteries.

“Christmas is the birth of Christ, so why shouldn’t people witness that tale on Christmas time,” said Fr. Ibarra Mercado, parish priest of the Sagrada Familia Parish in Barangay Sapang Palay here.

“If we are able to produce carrozas during Holy Week [in Baluiag town] to show the passion and death of Christ, why can’t we also do it on the day we celebrate Christ’s birth?” said Mercado, who initiated the project.

The carrozas, ferried on trucks driven by parishioners, carried actors portraying biblical characters and events in Christ’s early life.

The Annunciation is a Catholic celebration of the day when the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she was conceiving the Son of God. Catholics celebrate the Visitation when the Virgin Mary shared her Divine Grace with Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist.

Most people know about the Nativity, after Joseph and Mary were turned away by inn keepers in Bethlehem.

The Presentation in the Temple is the Biblical tale when the six-week-old Jesus was consecrated by the Lord under Jewish traditions, while the Finding of Jesus Christ in the Temple celebrates the day Joseph and Mary lost sight of 12-year-old Jesus only to find him engaged in discourse with Temple scholars.

The carrozas were accompanied by traditional Christmas songs like “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night.”

Mercado started the Christmas carroza on Christmas Eve in 2015, with only a Nativity float. This Christmas was the first time he mounted five carrozas with the help of the parish.

Mercado said, “People came out of their houses to wait for the parade. It was festive and that was what we wanted all along. We wanted them to feel the Christmas cheer.”

“They watched the parade and when they returned home, they greeted each other, ‘Merry Christmas.’” That’s the true spirit of Christmas when they care for one another,” he said.

Mercado said the project was designed for the millennials, whose knowledge about Christmas comes from social media. —CARMELA REYES ESTROPE