Philippine E-Journals

The Sinakulo of Bangkal, Makati: An Attempt at a Social History of a ‘Global Village’

Joselito B. Zulueta

Discipline: History

 

Abstract:

Staged during the Lenten season in the run-up to the Holy Week, the sinakulo is a resilient folk theater in a typical metropolitan barrio that has seen untrammeled development and urbanization. It is also unique in that it is performed by jeepney drivers who have made it their quasireligious vow to mount the religious pageant as an atonement for their sins and a supplication for better economic times ahead. In acting out the

different parts of the Christian story, the jeepney drivers internalize the deep meanings of the gospel and take part in salvation history, providing the drama and spectacle of dogma and praxis interacting and interfacing. In the little lives of these jeepney drivers, the history of a village is recorded and regenerated.