Day 182 - Basilan and back to Cagayan

We woke up at early o'clock this morning for mass. The church stood just off of the town square. We arrived early enough that the Christmas lights decorating the trees in the square were still bright in the half-light. The mass was short, and remarkably similar to Lutheran service, the main difference being the 'Hail Mary's', and the asking of saints and angels to intercede on our behalf. (And that, in nutshell is what the 95 Thesis were all about. OK there was more to it than that, but the Hail Mary and the talking to God via the saints versus directly thing are the ones I remember from Catechism) What was most impressive about the mass was the complete lack of hymnals, order of service, or prayer books. Yet somehow, without any printed material at all everyone seemed to know what to say when, and the tune to all the songs. I can't imagine a Protestant service running so smoothly without the 'Book of Common Prayer', program, and hymnal.

After mass, we went to Lolo's (another Lolo) house to say prayers for his deceased wife. She had passed away 40 days before, and as such, today was the day to say lots of prayers to help her out of purgatory and into Heaven. (At least that's what I gather. I am not Catholic, nor even a particularly good Lutheran. Faithful yes, particularly religious, no.) The prayers were followed by eating - naturally. It was much like an Irish wake, only much, much earlier in the morning. The whole lechon was pretty much finished by 8:30AM.

As the party started winding down, we made our way through the neighborhood calling in on all the relatives that weren't at the feast proper. Pretty much this entire neighborhood of Basilan is populated by Cz's mom's family. So much so, in fact, that there are streets named after them. Abu Sayyaf Country, nothing - this is Lazaro country!

We returned home early afternoon to pack and eat again. Uncle T stopped by briefly from work to see us one more time. We would be taking the afternoon fast boat back to Zamboanga, and from there the bus to Cagayan, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to get off work to send us off at the dock. Turns out some of his bosses were going on the same boat, so when he dropped them off, we said goodbye again, and were soon skimming our way back across the water to the relative safety of Auntie T's house, where the biggest danger is from a lechon-induced heart attack.