Pabasa (ritual)

Pabása ng Pasyón (Tagalog for "Reading of the Passion"), known simply as Pabása is a Catholic devotion in the Philippines popular during Holy Week involving the uninterrupted chanting of the Pasyón, an early 16th-century epic poem narrating the life, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Readers are usually groups of individuals taking turns in chanting verses from the book known as the Pasyon, as a devotion made in fulfilment of a panatà (this may be a vow, votive offering in request, or thanksgiving).

[1] The modern-day Pabasa may be chanted a cappella or with the accompaniment of musical instruments such as the guitar, accordion, piano, or by a rondalla ensemble.

Before evolving into the contemporary ritual, early forms of the Pabasa were introduced to the various indigenous peoples of the archipelago by Spanish friars spreading the Roman Catholic faith.

[1] The pabasa usually ends on Good Friday on 12 noon or before 3:00 PM PHT (GMT+8) – the traditional hour of Jesus' death on the cross (or even as late as Black Saturday, the penultimate day of Holy Week).

This is exclusively used for the section/chapter of the Tagalog Pasyon titled Ang Paglilibing sa Ating Panginoong Hesukristo (The Burial of our Lord Jesus Christ).

Named after the City of San Fernando, it is considered as the tune that unifies Pampanga and the Kapampangan chanters.

An elderly woman chanting a verse of the Pasyon in the Kapampangan language
Pabasa in Arayat, Pampanga
A verse/quintilla of Kapampangan Pasyon chanted using the tune Tonong Maynila/Tonong Tagalog
A verse of the Tagalog Pasyon chanted using the tune Aregadegadeng
Tune of the Paglilibing, the first two verses of the burial of Christ is read
Sane San Fernando
Sane Angeles complex form
The simple form of Sane Angeles