Good Friday Procession in Hagåtña in the 1920s
Our mañaina took Holy Week (Semåna Sånta) very seriously.
The main rule was : SILENCE. The whole week long.
In order to keep Holy Week as quiet as possible, the following were forbidden :
-singing (except in church)
-playing games
-yelling
-playing the phonograph or radio (what few had them)
-all manual labor
-going to the farm or ranch
-fishing
-swimming in a river or the ocean
-all recreation
The most serious days were Holy Thursday (Huebes Sånto) and Good Friday (Bietnes Sånto).
All food to be eaten those two days was cooked already by Wednesday afternoon or evening, so that there'd be less noise in the kitchen and no manual labor like grating coconut and so on. The foods cooked were therefore things can could last for two days without going bad.
Dishes were left unwashed for those two days.
Clothes, too, were not washed on those two days.
Many did not even shower or bathe on those two days, in order to participate in the discomforts of the Lord which He experienced.
Many Americans, who were not Catholic, complained that life came to a standstill on Guam in Holy Week. No one socialized. People were either at home or in church. Many local businesses were closed.
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