MANILA, Philippines?Holy Week will be early this year. My generation was taught to abstain from meat on Lenten Fridays as a form of sacrifice. And so my friends are oftentimes shocked that meat is still served at tables in homes and in restaurants.

I have to remind them that the medieval practice of eating only fish on Fridays has ended. It?s difficult to change a mindset that has been drummed into you by the priests and nuns in school.

The modern abstinence practice asks you to refrain from something you like?or better yet, something you can?t do without. For some friends it is smoking. For others, it is dessert.

Proper decorum

We lived near Lola?s house and we had to observe Holy Week the way she wanted us to. Lola was not really religious because she went to short masses with no homily, and hated it when she had to attend missa cantata, the long mass with the Gregorian chant.

But, as with our generation?s nuns and priests, her ultra-religious father must have drummed into her head the proper decorum during Holy Week.

And so we were told that there would be no laughing, no shouting. Abstinence was observed. The adults also had to fast.

On Good Fridays, we could not bathe. It was forbidden because of some unwritten law, but I suppose it was another form of sacrifice because the most solemn day of Holy Week was usually the most humid day of the year.

Lent in Laguna

Good Fridays were for listening to the Seven Last Words on television. I guess it was because there was nothing else to do. It must have been my imagination, but I always thought that at
3 p.m., the sky would always be overcast as if the heavens were also mourning the death of Jesus Christ.

My Good Fridays ever since I?ve had my own family has been spent staying home and catching up on reading. But there have been rare times when I?ve gone out, glad to drive through car-less streets and breeze to my destination.

Those rare times have been memorable. One time, my clan went to Laguna looking for Lenten rituals. We discovered Beatles Place at the back of Pakil church, where we had delicious tilapia cooked in coconut milk.

Last year, I wrote about the place and said it had closed. But a week after that, I had a message from owner Teresa Saldana Sanchez, who said that it had reopened after some refurbishing. She promised then to offer home-cooked lunch buffet on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. I hope that will still be done this year.

Laguna seems to be my preferred place on many Good Friday trips. Looking through the other articles I?ve written, I seem to always visit Santa Rosa, Pakil or Lumbang. And the memorable dish I had in two of those places was the yapyap, small shrimps cooked in coconut milk.

But last year, the destination was Baliwag in Bulacan. The main invitation was to watch the procession that involved several carrozas. But we were asked to have merienda cena first.

Our host?s garden seemed set for some serious dining, with several chaffing dishes still waiting for the food. Tables and the buffet were dressed. In the kitchen, the food being prepared would have shocked my Lola.

But this is a different age, and the chicharon, inihaw na baboy and beef tapa could be served without guilt. Besides, we were in Baliwag, home to excellent pork products.

To get into the Lenten spirit, I made it a point to eat just a few bites of my favorites?buro and the hito that go together, and the sapin-sapin that was too tempting especially when I got a whiff of the dayap.

The light fare, however, didn?t prepare me for the long evening of watching what looked like never-ending carrozas go by. Life-size statues were the norm and each carroza told part of the last days of Christ and the followers who mourned his passing.

One carroza dressed up its icons in Filipiniana. When Santa Maria Salome turned the corner, I thought that Queen Elizabeth I had made her entrance.

After hours of being entranced by the procession, I was thankful to be invited to eat again. Filipino hospitality will not make guests go home hungry, Lent or not.

Email the author at pinoyfood04@yahoo.com