Good Friday in Melaka

Hi everyone.....gosh has it been that long. I am so so fucking bz at work can. No more time for Youtubes, blogging, chatting and even ehm...nap time. I think God is trying to drop me giant hints to repent and start doing my job for once.

So this long delayed post is gonna be about Good Friday in Melaka. No i'm not refering to TGIF okeh. This is the Jesus punyer Good Friday. I think he died on this day or something. And yes i'm Catholic. I hope i wont be sent to hell for posting Good Friday posts like a week after the celebration. Soulful event. Mourning. Hmm....whatever.

So besides chicken rice ball and satay celup, the quaint little sleepy hollow town of Melaka is also actually famous for its Good Friday celebration. Every year on April 13. No wait. Is it 13? eh no. its March kan? omg. When is good friday again? ANYWAYS. Every year on Good Friday this dead town of Melaka would spring to life with throngs of devotees from all over the place who comes here just to worship. The place of worship?

This.

This is the St Peter church of Melaka. If i'm not wrong it happens to be the oldest church in Malaysia also. Built in 1710 katanya. Melaka is famed for having the oldest everything. Dunno why. You see the crowd? Beribu-ribu lemon okeh. See....the church would be FILLED with people all day long since 6am. There'll be several masses in several languages. All catholics would normally fast or at least abstain from eating meat on the day. Lau Niang fasted also you know. FASTED okeh. Never eat all day long tau. Tu kat KL lah...but hor by the time i struggle struggle balik Melaka i so hungry i TERmakan nasi lemak.

But never mind. Jesus forgives. Hmm.

Anyway...the higlight of the whole event has to be the evening mass. It is being celebrated in the most solemn traditional way year after year. No Good Friday will be complete with its signature candle light procession.

See, people would light up candles outside the church and when it gets dark, the whole church would be luminous with a sea of candle flames. Very the klass. But hor...personal tip. Dun wear slippers please. And if you have long hair, tie it. Why? Coz i like to drip candle wax on people's foot and see them jump and i love dripping wax on people's hair. Nasiblah who stand in front of me kan.

Siau meh. You think i so nasty ah. But i kena before lor. Damn pain okeh!

It gets even more exciting when the procession starts. I tell you this church has one of the oldest (again) and the most realistic looking statues. If you look close up, the details are very intricate and it used to scare me when i was little. Lemme show you what i mean.

See this is the statue of the weeping Mother Mary. For all non christians, Mother Mary is the mother of Jesus lah. Yes, i'm pretty sure bout this one. On regular days, she's dressed in purple. This is her Good Friday couture dress. Black velvet with lip lap lip lap sequins. Kelass okeh. And she's tall okeh. This statue is at least 7 foot tall. Did i mention that she's tall?? The wardens would carry it on their shoulders and walk around the churh. And this statue would be behind another glorious statue. The dead body of Christ statue. What is it?

This lah. This statue is suppose to depict the state of the dead Christ right after he was taken down from the Cross that he was crucified to. Again, it has very very intricate details; right up to the wounds from the crown of thorns and the pale complexion and everything. Before the procession, this statue will be put out and devotess would queue up crazy long lines to venerate the statue. Very long line...kalah hello kitty okeh. Then at night the wardens would carry it for the procession lor.

Oh and see....while i was busy snapping snapping....suddenly got very cute ang moh stand in front of me. Apa lagi....i snap also lah. See his face so cute. Look like Frodo kan kan. Oh my god i hope i wont be sent to hell for secretly slutting in curch on a Good Friday.

Okeh focus focus.

Next off, we have this flags or whatever thing they call it. It bears the picture of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary also. And these flag thingys are also part of the procession lah. I tell you a secret. You carry one of this flag and you on those scary mournful Gregorian chants you can scare the living daylights out of Mama Diva. Dunno why he's deathly afraid of crosses and gregorian chants. Dasar pontianak sejati. Ha ha ha ha!

So with all the glorios statues and giant flags lined up, you get a fantastic procession in Melaka once a year. Oh oh oh...i left out 1 part. Ha....you see the next pic.

This one is not statue okeh. This little girl in the cheapo pink dress ( why is she even in pink i dun understand. Jesus die wear pink. Can?!) is role playing the role of Veronica. Here, this watak Veronica is seen riduclously dressed in shocking Pink carrying the kain with muka Jesus in it. Oh man, i can SO out-veronica her. Gimme that dress i can pose lebih vas than her anytime. Rimas mak tengok...stand there with muka blank jer.

Story in the Bible has it say that she was there while Jesus carried his own cross and walked to the crucifixion site. Out of pity, she wiped Jesus' face with this wet facial tissue perisa Green Tea and miraculously his face was imprinted in the wet tissue. Today, this myth is famously known as the Shroud of Turin. This one merk tak goreng one okeh....really got one leh. Dun believe me you ask Jesus.

At the corner of the church, there's this little shrine of Mother Mary also. People would be seen lighting candles and praying intensely over the shrine.

And that's how the infamous Good Friday celebration is done in Melaka. If uols nak tengok yang real, come next year lah, and you might be lucky enough to spot a pair of Green Crocs with a red Digicam snapping furiously at everything.

Especially cute guys.

Ta.....