On Easter Vigil on April 20, 2019 the Saturday before Easter Sunday, the Filipino Catholic Community in Frankfurt celebrated an Easter Vigil Mass that was capped by the so-called "Encuentro" (meeting) or "Salubong" (welcome).
The traditional “Salubong” is the reenactment of the Biblical account of the Risen Jesus reuniting with his Mother Mary. In the Philippines, the Salubong starts at around 4:00am with a procession of the image of the Risen Christ and the image of a still-mourning Mary, whose head is draped with a black veil.
At St. Ignatius Church in Frankfurt, the image of Mary, standing on a platform with wheels, was dragged by the women on one route within the Church yard. The image of the Risen Christ was pulled by the men, taking a different route from the other end of the Church premises. The two images then met in front of the concrete staircase abutting the community hall building. The curving staircase had served as an outdoor stage for this occasion. On the stage, white-clad little girls representing the angels were waiting for the images to meet.
As the images stood face to face, one of the girls, Abigail "AC" Lozanes, 6-years old, then sang the "Regina Caeli" (Queen of Heaven). Singing with confidence and without missing a beat and tone, Abigail captured the crowd's attention with her rendition of the traditional Marian hymn, which she sung in Latin. At the end of her song, she removed Mary's black veil of sorrow, to the jubilation of the crowd.
The following day, immediately after the Easter Mass, a program was held at the Community Hall. Jordan Mallari, the head of the Youth Ministry of the Filipino Catholic Community, acted as the emcee and kept the crowd happy while they waited for the food to be served. Assisted by Susan Fajardo, Marietta Exconde and Virgie Mallari, the children joined the games that included "Chubby Bunny", which involved participants pronouncing "chubby bunny" each time they pop in a marshmallow into their mouth. The winner - Amor Mallari managed to enunciate still clearly “chubby bunny” despite the eleven marshmallows trapped inside her jaws and pursed lips.
