A Tale of Two Family "Pabasas"

Old folks call it “Pabasa ng Pasyon” (a reading of the Passion). The book used for the pabasa is titled “Pasyong Mahal” with the Nazarene carrying his cross on its cover. A closer scrutiny, however, of its contents will reveal that it is not about the passion only. The real subject of the pabasa is actually the whole history of salvation from the creation of the world to Christ’s passion and death. And it is not read but traditionally chanted or sung in a melody that reminds one of the haunting lamentations of old.

A pabasa is done anytime between the onset of Lent on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is usually carried out in village chapels or houses in a decorated altar that is dominated by pictures and statues of saints and of the suffering Christ. The chanters or singers of the pabasa, usually professional pabasa singers, as a rule do it non-stop from early dawn to dusk until the whole book is finished.

Organizers/hosts of a pabasa are ordinarily families whose ancestors long ago made the panata (vow) to have a pabasa in thanksgiving for favors received from God. It can also be done for a personal reason unique to the family. That is how our family (the Gabriel-Mendiola clan) came up not only with one but two pabasas during Lent.

The Gabriel Pabasa

The first pabasa in the family was started by my grandparents on my mother’s side, Mariano Gabriel and Lucia Joson of Pulilan, Bulacan.

Family tradition has it that my grandfather Mariano who lives in “Tabing Ilog” (beside the river) found an unusual icon of the Blessed Mother floating in the river while fishing one day. The icon is sculpted in hard wood and depicts the Blessed Mother breastfeeding an infant while two toddlers cling to her dress as if waiting for their turn to be fed too. He took it home and placed it on a stand in their family altar. Soon the family started receiving favors and blessings from God. He then decided to hold a pabasa in its honor, and then also to thank God for favors received during the past year and request for blessings for the coming year.

I remember that for many years, Mariano Gabriel’s clan that included our family (the Mendiolas) from Nueva Ecija would troop to the old ancestral home in Pulilan every second Sunday of Lent for the pabasa where we met our uncles, aunts and cousins. Silence was observed throughout the entire pabasa while the pabasa singers who take turns singing the pasyon and other guests who came either to sing or pray are served the traditional fiesta fare that included my grandmother Lucia’s unforgettable “suman sa gata” (rice delicacy cooked in coconut milk) eaten with minatamis (sweets) and fresh sweet mangoes from their backyard.

When my grandparents died, the Gabriel siblings that included my mother took turns in hosting the pabasa in their own houses where the icon would be transferred every year.

Some years back with the passing away of the last of the Gabriel siblings, the Gabriel pabasa went back to the same place where it had began in my grandparents place in Pulilan. It is still held every second Sunday of Lent.

The Mendiola Pabasa

The second family pabasa was started by my brother Renato in 1983 after he was diagnosed with stage 3 nasopharyngeal cancer. He went into remission sometime after that, went back to his job and enjoyed relatively good health for some 20 years during which he and his family never failed each year to host a pabasa either in San Jose or in their house in Marikina every year whenever Palm Sunday comes around.

The cancer struck back with vengeance in early 2006. My brother passed away in late 2006.

Lent and the season of pabasas are now once again upon us. I would like to think that the pabasa has become a way of life for us Gabriels and Mendiolas during Lent. It has not only given us a lot of blessings and spiritual strength, but has also become a venue of reunion for the clan when we can gather and revive memories of the past, both sweet and painful.