“In spite of its solemnity, Lent and its peak of Holy Week are special occasions for Filipinos to pray, bond with loved ones and visitors as well as relax from the daily grind. The week-long religious observance is also a time to meld with our diverse cultural heritage by participating in different Lenten activities in our hometowns and then escaping to our summer getaways,” says Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim.

The miraculous image of Jesus the Black Nazarene at the Basilica Minore in Quiapo, Manila leads the Philippine Christendom during Holy Week as it will be brought out of its shrine for a procession in the district on Good Friday. This is one of only two times in a year – the other event is during its January 9 feastday – when the life-size mahogany-colored image is taken out of the church for a grand but solemn procession participated in by hundreds of thousands of devotees. The more than four-centuries-old image of Jesus Christ depicted under the weight of the Holy Cross was brought to Manila on board a galleon from Acapulco, Mexico.

While the observance of Lent is nationwide, the commemoration of the passion and death of Christ popularly known as the Senakulo is specially staged at the plaza in Malibay, Pasay City and in Barangay San Dionisio in Parañaque City in Metro Manila.

The provinces in the Southern Tagalog region have many traditional events during Holy Week. Unique lenten commemoration in towns and cities can be experienced during the Penetensiyahan in Rosario and Pabasa ng Pasyon in San Juan both towns in Batangas; the Cenaculo in Cainta, the Giwang-Giwang and the Salubong in the “Artists’ Village” town of Angono all in Rizal province.

The Turumba Festival in the town of Pakil in Laguna has the largest religious activities which begin on the Friday before Palm Sunday and every nine days thereafter. Then, the feast proceeds to the nine days in May and June until it ends on Pentecost Sunday in September amidst local pageantry. These seven fiestas or lupi venerate the seven sorrows of Our Lady of Turumba through native music during a sober dancing procession among the townsfolk.

The island-province of Marinduque’s colorful Moriones festival is depicted by players masked as soldiers and garbed in biblical Roman costumes performing around the picturesque towns of Boac, Gasan and Mogpog. It culminates with the beheading of Longinus, the centurion who pierced the side of the crucified Jesus. The street festival converts these towns as virtual stages with the story of Longinus unfolding before the local people and visitors.

On Maunday Thursday and Good Friday, a group of men in Tanay and Taytay in Rizal province gather, feast and meditate overnight around the parish church to await the statue of Santo Entierro (wooden image of the dead Christ) for the Subok Festival. Different objects like handkerchiefs, bronze medals, small pieces of paper inscribed with Latin phrases are inserted into the robe, under the feet and in the hands of the dead Christ. During the procession of the Santo Entierro, these men link hands and encircle the blessed image. The objects are then retrieved after the procession and considered as talisman, which the men test among themselves for effectiveness using different deadly weapons.

Pampanga is world famous for the religious flagellants who continuously whip their bare backs as a sign of penitence for their sins while parading the streets of the City of San Fernando. There are live reenactments of the crucifixion in Barangays San Pedro Cutud in San Fernando and Lourdes Northwest in Angeles City. In the towns of Betis, Guagua, Bacolor, Sasmuan and Macalacat in Pampanga; Baliuag and Paombong in Bulacan; and Castillejos in Zambales, several lavishly decorated floats are part of the Prusisyon carrying the images of Mater Dolorosa (Our Lady of Sorrows) and other religious characters depicting Christ’s suffering and preceded by local singers and musicians. The pilgrims join the Penetencia at Ermita Hill in Casiguran and Baler in Aurora. Dipolog City in Zamboanga del Norte has the Katkat Sakripisyo.

Not every town and cities are solemn for Holy Week, however. Suroy sa Surigao turns this city and towns in the Caraga region into sightseeing and water sports destinations. Digos City in Davao del Sur mobilizes employees of different government offices in the orientation of trekkers and mountaineers to the country’s highest peak, Mt. Apo. Through their ethnic culture, indigenous people in Magpet, Cotabato celebrate the Pak’kaat Kal’lo as well as in Mt. Province and Ifugao with their Tungoh ad Hunduan, Changyasan and Gotad ad Hingyon Festivals for their bountiful harvest.

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Playing poker while out of town is really as easy as can be. First of all, let’s look at the options that are available online. Yeah, there are millions (literally) of online casinos and poker houses where you an meet up with other players and play poker. That’s pretty simple.

Another option that is new and electronic is to use a Nintendo Wii to play poker with friends. Using the Wii you can play games of Texas Hold ‘Em with friends or strangers and have everything from avatars that show your personal expressions to big tournaments with some of the best players in the world. You don’t have to be in town for that.

But let’s say that you like to play poker in person. You love the feel of the cards. You love to look at the players and read them. Sure, you can go to a casino if there is one. That can be good and you know that the experience is probably above the boards since it is regulated. However, sometimes a friendly low stakes game is really the key. I’ve learned that the best thing to do is the simplest.

Just ask my friends who love to play poker if they know of any poker games in the place where I’m going when I’m out of town. This usually gets me not only great poker games but good times and new friends too. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from winning their money – if I can that is.

For those who would rather watch than play, there is the Filipino Poker Tour. This national poker event is televised so that the whole nation can take part in the high stakes drama and fun. Who watches poker? Apparently a lot of us do, because these particular tournaments have shattered viewership records for entire five events that took place in the first season. Not only did the home crowds enjoy the action, but the live crowds were huge too.

Why the excitement? One reason is because Filipinos that were good with cards but were not millionaires are now swimming in their poker achieved wealth from the tournament. That’s right, the Filipino Poker Tour has created millionaires from great card players. Not bad for a card game, right?

Mike Tyler, Kent del Rosario, Neil Acre, Joshua Riveira, and Ramil Tandoc won big big money in the Filipino Poker Tournament and the players this year are facing even bigger pots and more excitement.

The tour usually consists of Texas Hold Em which is one of the most exciting poker games you can play. Players win their seats through a combination of play or buying into the game. You can buy in in advance or you can show up and high roll your way into the match by buying into the event on the day of a hand. Either way, don’t let them see you sweat!

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It turns out we could have done it risk free if we’d have known about CafePress.com. I just stumbled across this site this morning and while some of the shirts, mugs, stickers, and calendars would really only appeal to people with a specific interest (like the people who loved my friend), there were some that were incredibly funny posters, stylish, or just plain cool. I ended up buying four shirts, a mug, and a mousepad but the price was reasonable and really, that’s not why I’m writing this in the first place, just be warned that you might end up buying some great things when you visit CafePress.com.

The reason I’m writing is that I also set up an account and uploaded a couple of my favorite photos and designs to see what they would look like. The results were favorable though I’m going to work on them a little more before I show them off to you. I thought maybe you guys would want to do the same thing.

Here’s how it works. Go to CafePress.com and register for an account. It’s free and it doesn’t involve anything more than most sites where you sign up for something. Next, upload your favorite pictures and designs. You can either make your own designs or if you just have an idea, you can work with their in-house designers to make something really special. After that you pick which styles and color of tee shirt you want your designs to go on. To be honest, I had no idea there were so many different types of tee shirts.

If you just want one shirt, you can just buy one. You don’t have to buy a hundred or even twenty. The photos used on the tee shirts are super high quality, full color printed just like the online merchandise for Eclipse. No cheap looking work unless your design is flawed. Simply approve the shirt and design or shirts, cups, dog bowls, baby clothes, etc. and then you set up the account to run. CafePress ships everything quickly and offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee to you and everyone who orders your shirts. It’s that easy. You don’t have to worry about shipping, accounting, processing, or anything else. They handle it all for you.

All you have to do is figure out what you want to make from each shirt and then let people know where to buy it. I’m an instant fan. I love CafePress.com.

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Southwest Airlines (SWA) according to reviews is convenient for short haul flights but generally all pasengers who have tried their services is pretty much satisfied. Most passengers consistently get the cheapest rates on this airline since they use the Southwest Airlines promotion code when they login and make airfare reservations online.

The Internet has helped keep airfares as low as possible by forcing all the major airlines to stay competitive on pricing and Southwest Airlines is one of the airlines that provides savings travel coupons. You can also get promo codes and coupons for Southwest Airlines on sites like Momsview.com, Retailmenot.com, and Couponcabin.com. They all made good research about the latest coupon or discounted rates to specific destinations that Southwest flies into.

Southwest Airlines also offers complete vacation packages to destinations across the U.S. with flight service available from every scheduled Southwest Airlines departure city. Checkout some great deals and travel tips to Manila by visiting their website.