Sunday, March 16, 2008

My First Encounter: Palm Sunday

if there is one thing living in canada has done for me, it is to push me way beyond my comfort zone. suddenly i have to deal with things i have taken for granted. things i don't even think about. things that i dont dare put my finger on. and things i have never ever thought of doing back in the philippines.

i think it is in writing about these things that you will understand what everyday life is for a filipino in canada. a lot of my writings will be in comparing my life in the philippines versus my life here. and i will be discussing general everyday scenarios some of which still amuse me to date.

just today, we celebrated palm sunday. and while palm sunday would bring pictures of vendors surrounding all of our churches in the philippines with their fancily woven and colorfully decorated palm leaves or palaspas, as we call them, such a sight will never be seen here. from the outside of the church, you won't even know its palm sunday.

instead, what you will see when you enter the church (at least for the church that my family goes to) is a table full of palm leaves. everyone who enters the church can just help himself/herself to it. nope, they are not decorated. neither do they have little red flowers on them. and they are definitely not woven.

they are just plain palm leaves. palm leaves which the priest had blessed prior to the beginning of the mass. so we no longer have the need to wave them up in the air while the priest goes around blessing them.

on occasion, you would see some people creating crosses from the palm leaves they got. and i, coming from the philippines, and having played with woven palm leaves in my childhood felt confident that i could make a woven cross for my kids so they can look up to me in awe. and of course several attempts and several palm leaves after, it was actually my husband who was able to create one on his first try. har-har. show-off!

so while i do miss the elaborate palaspas we have back home, i do enjoy the opportunity of learning to make it myself.

by the way, should you know how to make a woven cross, please leave me the directions below.

9 comments:

poclai said...

Cool! Same Palm Sunday thingy in Massachussets. When I experienced it, I admired how efficient having it blessed prior the mass so that people wouldn't have the hard time to have it done. Galing right?

Unknown said...

hi. i love reading your blogs... i share your sentiments about missing the things i used to take for granted in the philippines... as my fil-can boyfriend puts it, all i ever do is compare the philippines and canada... man, i do miss home!

Unknown said...

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Sammy Davis Jr Tap Dancer said...

Thank you for sharing us about your palm sunday.

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Chiropractors Brisbane said...

A wonderful topic about the Palm Sunday that catholics celebrate before holy week. Thanks for sharing Insights!

business coaching said...

That was really nice.Well, things in Philippines was really different compare to Canada. I guess you missed the country.

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