Between Mourning and Joy: A Geertzian Reading of the Sabet Ritual in San Narciso, Zambales

Abstract

This study examines the Domingo Sabet, a distinctive Holy Week practice observed in San Narciso, Zambales, Philippines, through the theoretical lens of Clifford Geertz’s interpretive anthropology, complemented by ritual performance theory, memory studies, and intangible cultural heritage (ICH) discourse. The research had three objectives: to produce a thick description of the Domingo Sabet rituals; to interpret the symbolic meanings and cultural narratives embedded in these practices; and to examine the broader role of these rituals in shaping community identity, social cohesion, and religious continuity within a rapidly modernizing context. Fieldwork was conducted across nine days during the 2024 Holy Week season (Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday), with intensive participant observation on Black Saturday and Easter Sunday. Data collection included approximately 22 hours of direct observation, 14 semi-structured interviews with purposively selected informants, and analysis of 11 documentary sources. Data were coded thematically using a two-cycle process (descriptive and pattern coding) with inter-cycle memo writing. Findings indicate that the Domingo Sabet—a pre-dawn procession of the Risen Christ (Apo Nagungar) and the Virgin of Joy (Virgen de Alegria) culminating in the sabet (encounter)—operates as a layered cultural performance encoding theological, social, and historical meaning. Yet the ritual is neither static nor uncontested: declining youth participation, migration, and pandemic-era disruption have prompted adaptive responses, including digital live streaming, that reshape what the ritual is and who counts as a participant. Read through Geertz’s “model of” and “model for” framework alongside performance and heritage perspectives, the Domingo Sabet emerges as a contested site of ongoing negotiation rather than a transparent vehicle of tradition. The study contributes to scholarship on Philippine religious ritual and to current debates about safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in modernizing societies.