CALABANGA, Camarines Sur—Owing to its rich religious culture and famous image of Amang Hinulid (Holy Sepulcher) that is believed to be miraculous, this town enjoys an influx of thousands of tourists during the Lenten Week.
The crowd drawer is the Amang Hinulid, which thousands of devotees from different parts of the country visit from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday.
During the two-day Lenten holiday alone, the continuous flow of thousands of barefoot pilgrims, walking shoulder-to-shoulder along the national road 20 km from Naga City going to and out of this town, is a sight to see.
The Amang Hinulid has earned popularity among its devotees through word-to-mouth accounts of miracles since the 19th century.
Undocumented accounts of the image's apparition and healing powers are numerous.
Aside from the famous image of Amang Hinulid, the colorful mix of combined pagan rituals and modern-day art forms practiced every year on Lenten week makes an interesting discovery. 
One would witness the pagan ritual of cleansing performed by hooded male and female penitents in groups of five.
The hooded shirtless male penitents-adorned with leaves, flowers and ringlets made of crawling wild flowering vine cadena-de-amor-make their rhythmic moves in the streets of the town towards the sea to bathe, a cleansing ritual rooted from their ancestors.
While the hooded male penitents do the act of penance by flogging their backs with chains and bamboo whip, the hooded women penitents called "sayos" make their rounds around town, asking for alms that they donate to the church.
Dressed in black and face covered, the sayos' identities are mysteriously concealed from the public as they ask alms in favor of the Church on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday to pay for their sins.
Unlike in other places in Bicol, the vanishing practice of pabasa or the oral Bicol chant of the Passion of Christ performed for 24 hours is still a dominant practice in numerous houses here beginning Holy Wednesday to Maundy Thursday.
Thirteen years ago, another Holy Week event came into being, which has now become a tradition here through years of religious observance.
It is becoming the second crowd drawer of this town during the Lenten week.
In this Bicol town, the "Stations of the Cross" is a tableaux of costumed live mannequins performing the scenes from the "Garden of Gethsemane" to "Jesus' Crucifixion."
The interactive street play of the "Passion of Christ", which is performed as an alternative to the "Seven Last Words" Mass, has been engaging since a group of parishioners, which a former parish priest led, initiated the tradition.
Involving a cast of at least 100 performers, the street play is staged in several locations in the town and runs for 17 hours on Good Friday.
Catholics here also practice the same Easter observance of "Soledad," "Salubong" and The Resurrection.
But what made the Lenten tradition here distinct from other towns in Bicol is that religious tourists continue to visit Calabanga to renew their devotion.
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