Everybody is excited to watch the much awaited Pacquiao vs. Marquez 2: Unfinished Business tomorrow. Not to mention that it is also the 487th anniversary when Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Philippines. Tomorrow is also Palm Sunday, it is also known as Domingo de Ramos.

Palm Sunday or Linggo ng Palaspas in our native tongue, in the Christian calendar, the Sunday before Easter, sixth and last Sunday in Lent, and the first day of Holy Week. This morning, vendors will start selling “palaspas” to bring to church and have it blessed during the mass. Palaspas is decorated and weaved palm leaves. We would afterward bring it home and place it in the altar. A filipino belief that it will protect our home from bad spirits.

I still remember the old filipino movie where the actor whipped the manananggal with palaspas. A manananggal is filipino’s mythical evil creature that has the capability to leave her lower torso to fly and look for person to eat the internal organs. She can’t tolerate the pain of palaspas. Hey, it was just a movie but I was really scared at that time. Although I don’t believe in manananggal, to my young mind, the scene from that movie tought me the protection of palaspas.

technorati: christianity pinoy