The Alternative brings together four stories and image collections from this year’s Lenten observance. We explore the country’s rich culture and tradition, a mix of Roman Catholicism and Pre-Hispanic beliefs, and their continuing relevance to today’s society. Dax Simbol documents the Magdarame, women mourners in Capas, Tarlac. Kimmy Baraoidan continues to follow the men of…
Text and photos by: Chris Quintana "Yeah, take me to the old church," I told the tricycle driver on the way to the fishing village of San Antonio in Bay, Laguna. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to see tourists there, I thought to myself, the village being a quiet fishing community, though it is…
Text and photos by: Dax Simbol For the past five years, during Good Fridays, I have followed a group of women in the little known village of Talaga in Capas, Tarlac. They are the Magdarame, mourners or sympathizers of penitents who walk barefoot, clad in all black or sometimes in the traditional maroon Nazareno-like outfits,…
Text and photos by: Dax Simbol Erlinda Asuncion, 65 years old, starts her day sitting in her backyard with mounds of clay beside her. She takes clumps of the moist earth and skillfully molds them into round masses to be formed later into pots and pot covers, shadows slowly moving down from her face to…
Text by: Kimmy Baraoidan Photos by: Chris Quintana and Kimmy Baraoidan An LED sign screams the word “Tattoo” from a window on the second floor of a small building next to a church. The building’s ground floor houses a small eatery full of employees from the mall across during lunchtime. The smell of freshly baked bread and…