HOLY WEEK 

Pedro Guimaraes / 4SEE

PORTUGAL: HOLY WEEK IN BRAGA

The Holy Week in Braga is one of the biggest and most important religious events in Europe. Taking place in Portugal every year during the last week before Easter, the ceremonies gather thousands of pilgrims mainly from Portugal, Spain and France, when solemnities and processions remembering the death and rise of Christ are held. All are impressive, being the 'Ecce Homo' the most famous, with the creepy "Farricocos" wearing black habits and carrying torches or effigies of Christ and the Madonna through the city streets..

Marco C. Pereira and Sara Wong / 4SEE

PHILIPPINES: MARINDUQUES FESTIVAL

Every Holy Week, Marinduque is invaded by Moriones (Roman soldiers maskers) celebrating the story of Longinus, a centurion blind in one eye assigned for the crucifixion that speared the body of Christ and had his sight restored by a shed blood droplet.
The Moriones Festival evolved from 1807, the year when Padre Dionisio Santiago, a Mogpog parish priest created a play depicting the story of Longinus, one of the Roman centurions assigned to crucify Christ. Today, the play is a dramatic but cheerful re-enactment of the Via Crucis and the following events, during the seven days of the Holy Week. Each municipality of the island of Marinduque has its own festival but they all include hundreds, thousands of Moriones (Roman centurions) wearing handmade wood masks, swords, spears and shields. The masks take months to finish and are kept secret to conceal the owners identity.

Marco C. Pereira and Sara Wong / 4SEE

PHILIPPINES: GASAN's HOLY WEEK

Gasan, in the island of Marinduque, has one of the liveliest Holy Weeks of the Philippines, the only predominantly Christian country in Asia. At this town, faith expressions range in drama from colorful processions to the "Antipos" self-flagellation.