Faith and Repentance: Celebrating Holy Week in California

Holy Week is an important time which marks the final week of commemoration of Jesus Christ. Christians all over the world would participate in the week long church activities. It begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday are also considered as yearly non-working holidays to different countries in respect to the Christian tradition.

Unfortunately, Easter Sunday is the only federal holiday in the state of California. Although some provinces would also consider Black Friday as a holiday, the week-long Christian tradition is not widely commemorated. This means that not all companies and institutions would give their employees offs during the holy season.

This year, the celebration of Palm Sunday happened last April 10 followed by Maundy Thursday tomorrow, April 14, 2022. Church services are normal gatherings for Christian Asian Americans This is why even during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, online activities were normalized including the holy traditions. Churches still offer virtual services such as holy mass, vigils and other Christian activities. The Holy Week activities officially started last March 2, the celebration of Ash Wednesday which reminds the Christian to start repenting and reconcile with God. It is also the start of the Lenten season.

Although Holy week is not considered a public holiday unlike in the Philippines. Asian Americans and non-Asian Americans residing in California could still partake in different holy activities thanks to the different faith communities that manage to prepare both face-to-face and online services for Christians and even non-Christians. A lot of Christian churches from the North and South County have already announced their schedules from Last Supper to Easter Vigil including the Easter egg hunts for kids. Check out the list of churches from North County in this link.

Written by: Yam Pernecita

Yam Pernecita is a digital marketing intern of PS Media Enterprise. She is a 4th-year Bachelor of Arts in Communication student from Far Eastern University in Manila, Philippines.