hating holy week

Holy week is a religious holiday most Filipinos supposedly observe. For most people, they take this time to go on vacation with families or go visit seven churches. For a lot of people, it's a time to go to the beach because it's the only "beach holiday" for the rest of the working people.

I've never really enjoyed this so-called religious observation. For one, I find the Filipino observance of Holy Week is gory and bleak. Why should people deliberately hurt themselves in penitence for their sins? Why show penance for sins 7 of 365 days only? If that's the case, then we can gamble, kill, cause adultery, live in debauchery and sin for 300++ days a year?

The Philippines has long been a country of twisted religious beliefs. People have to be slapped during confirmation... Suffering and poverty is a way to heaven... Problems in life are given by the great God as punishment... the list goes on.

But the main reason I don't like holy week is that it almost always falls on my birthday! Imagine that! How sad it is for a kid to never be able to celebrate his birthday because everyone is "mourning". A kid will never have a happy birthday if he has no television shows to watch except religious ones or if all he sees are self-flagellation on tv.

Now that i've grown up, holy week is not a vcacation anymore. it's really a week of boredom. I would have probably expired of this phenomenon had my friends not chosen to throw a get-together, nor have the malls fully been closed.

I'm too lazy to finish this post, but I shall end it with this: I have realized that it's a personal preference as to what to do on holy week. we cannot dictate the actions of other people. To each his own.