Hosanna Hosanna Crucify him Crucify him - Roses And Thorns byAlejandro R. Roces

Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. It commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem when olive and palm branches were strewn in his path with the people shouting "Hosanna!" meaning "Save us, we pray!" The ironic part is that only six days later, the very same people would be saying, "Crucify Him!"

In the Philippines, we commemorate the occasion with the blessing of woven coconut palms that we call palaspas. Once blessed these palm leaves become sacramentals and people hang them in their homes till the following Palm Sunday in the belief that it protects homes from all forms of evil. The churches have some of these blessed palm leaves for next year's Ash Wednesday to be burned so that their ashes can be used to mark the foreheads of the faithful with these words, "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return."

The coconut palm is undoubtedly the best choice for a Philippine symbol of Palm Sunday. But, in a way, it is ironic. It was the Portuguese who gave the coconut its name -- coco. They gave it that name because the three dots in the coconut shell reminded them of the face of a goblin. The Portuguese name for goblin is coco and that is the name they gave the nut. So during Palm Sunday, the tree named after a goblin becomes a sacramental! In the Philippines, the people's impression of the three dots on the coconut shell was that of three eyes. And so a children's riddle asks this question, "What has three eyes, but cannot see?" The answer, of course, is the coconut.

Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday will be observed with a senaculo, a dramatization of the life of Christ and the pabasa, a reading of the Passion of Christ.

Holy Thursday is commemorated with two rituals. Holy Thursday is called Maundy Thursday, a corruption of Mandatum, the first word used in the ritual where the Parish Priest washes the feet of twelve parishioners who represent the Apostles. The second ritual is a re-enactment of the Last Supper. In modern day re-enactments, the Apostles drink beer and eat fast food hamburgers.

Good Friday is undoubtedly the saddest day of the year. To look sad at any time of the year is to have a Good Friday expression on one's face. The most interesting folk ritual here is the burning of a figure that represents Judas.

Holy Saturday is Easter Vigil. It commemorates the night that Christ rose from the dead. The following day is the most important of all Christian festivals -- Easter. Children jump with joy when church bells announce the Resurrection of Christ. The early missionaries made sure it would be a joyful occasion by telling the children that if they jumped with great joy to the sound of the Resurrection bells, they will grow tall. Joy delights in joy and a shared joy is a joy made double. Those who took part in this jumping ritual can literally say:

"Joys too exquisite to last,

And yet more exquisite when past."