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Good Friday, or Biyernes Santo, is a public holiday, commemorated with solemn street processions, the Way of the Cross, the commemoration of Jesus' Seven Last Words or Siete Palabras, and a traditional Passion play called the Senákulo, which in some places is a week-long affair. In some communities (most famously in the province of Pampanga), the processions include devotees who self-flagellate and sometimes even have themselves nailed to crosses as expressions of penance, in fulfillment of a vow, or in thanksgiving for a granted request. The pabasa, or marathon chanting of the Pasyon (the Filipino epic narrative of Christ's life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection), usually concludes on this day.

Santo Entierro

The highlight of Good Friday activities is the procession of the Santo Entierro, a wooden image of Christ's corpse lying supine. Comparable to the Eastern Orthodox custom of processing the epitaphion, the calandra, or bier carrying the dead Christ, is processed and normally followed by other images of saints connected with the Passion narrative such as Peter and John the Evangelist. Tradition dictates that regardless of the number of statues used, the last image in the procession is the Mater Dolorosa.

Some places accord the Santo Entierro with proper funeral rites, such as laying the body in state. In Paete, Laguna the Santo Entierro is smoked several times before the procession by burning lansones peelings. Several times during the procession, the bier, which is carried on the shoulders instead of pulled, is halted over a fire whilst someone shouts "¡Señor, Misericordia, Señor!" (Lord, Have mercy, Lord!). In Lipa City the procession of the Santo Entierro is silently held at midnight. The image is interred in the chapel nearest the parish, and remains locked within until the Easter Vigil.

Popular culture

The public sorrow and sombre mood attached to this day gave rise to the Tagalog idiom "Mukha kang Biyernes Santo." Literally meaning "You look like Good Friday," as the subject's sad expression resembles that of the suffering Christ.

Filipinos traditionally avoid noisemaking and, in older times, bathing (unless required for health reasons) after 15:00 PST as a form of sacrifice in accordance with the belief that Christ died at that hour.