Holy Week, called Semana Santa or Mahal na Araw in the Philippines, is the week before Easter Sunday and one of the most important observances of the year for the country's Catholic majority. On Siquijor it is also a well-known time to visit: the island's parishes hold their usual services while the province stages the Folk Healing Festival around Mt. Bandilaan National Park. Healing claims are reported here as beliefs and are not judged.
\nThe week runs from Palm Sunday, when palm fronds are blessed at church, to Black Saturday. Maundy Thursday brings the evening Mass and Visita Iglesia, the custom of praying in at least seven churches. Good Friday is marked by the Way of the Cross, processions and readings of the Pasyon, the story of Christ's passion. Easter Sunday begins with a dawn rite in which statues of Jesus and Mary are brought together, called Salubong, or Sugat in Cebuano, the main language of Siquijor.
\nMaundy Thursday and Good Friday are regular national holidays, and Black Saturday has traditionally been declared a special non-working day, as the proclamation of the 2027 holidays notes. Many businesses close or shorten their hours across these days.
\nHoly Week is the week before Easter Sunday, so it moves with Easter, which falls on the first Sunday after the Church's first calculated full moon on or after March 21. Easter Sunday was April 5 in 2026 and falls on March 28 in 2027 and April 16 in 2028. In 2027, Palm Sunday is March 21, Maundy Thursday March 25, Good Friday March 26, Black Saturday March 27 and Easter Sunday March 28.
\nThe provincial tourism office says a Healing Festival is normally held every year during Holy Week, and the Department of Tourism places it at Mount Bandilaan Nature Park, listed on this site as Mt. Bandilaan National Park. News reports put the festival grounds at the Bandilaan Mountain View Park, among mountain villages including Cantabon, Cangmatnog and Cang-atuyom, and describe traditional healers (mananambal) and herbalists from across the Philippines taking part. Visitors can watch healers prepare traditional herbal mixtures, see exhibits of native herbs, handicrafts, farm products and local food, and join other cultural activities.
\nA 2012 report described a program from Holy Wednesday to Black Saturday that opened with a Mass and drew thousands of visitors, and a tourism office staff member quoted in a 2025 heritage feature likewise says the healers' activity starts on Holy Wednesday and culminates on Black Saturday. Mt. Bandilaan and folk healing each have a separate guide on this site.
\nThe tourism office describes Black Saturday as the last day of fasting for Catholics in the Philippines, remembering the day Jesus lay in the tomb. On Siquijor, it says, healers mix the herbs and roots gathered over the seven Fridays of Lent on that day, because it is a time of suspense, quiet and solemnity. The cooked preparation is called minasa, according to a 2025 Philstar feature and a 1999 Silliman Journal study, and the tourism office adds that ashes obtained only on Black Saturday are used in a fumigation ritual called tuob.
\nBeliefs attach to the day, and each is reported here as a belief. The Silliman Journal study, which documented the Holy Week rites of Siquijor's healers, roots them in the folk belief that the spirit world opens on Good Friday. A 2025 heritage feature reports that, according to local belief, the physical and spiritual worlds are closest on Black Saturday. Most healers prepare their minasa in private, while some show it in public on the day, according to a Siquijor tour guide quoted by Philstar.
\nSiquijor belongs to the Diocese of Dumaguete, and the tourism office lists a parish church in each of the six towns. These include the Saint Francis of Assisi Parish Church (Siquijor Church), the San Isidro Labrador Parish Church and Convent (Lazi Church), the Saint Vincent Ferrer Parish Church (Larena Church) and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Church, with the other two in San Juan and Maria. Catholic parishes across the country generally follow the pattern above, with each church holding rites such as the Salubong in its own way, so Mass times and processions should be checked with the parish office.
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