Filipinos celebrate Easter Sunday with traditional 'Salubong'

Filipino Catholic devotees marked Easter Sunday with the traditional "Salubong" rites early morning in their respective parishes, marking the end of the Holy Week. 

As per tradition, the Salubong began with two separate processions before dawn, where images of the Mater Dolorosa and the Resurrected Christ were carried from opposite ends.

Eventually, the two processions met at a middle point, during which an "angel" played by a young girl lifted the black veil from the face of the image of the Blessed Mother.

At the moment the veil was lifted, the Hallelujah Chorus was played, and celebration ensued. An Easter morning mass followed in churches.

A child dressed as an angel removes the black veil from the head of the image of the Virgin Mary during the "Salubong" before dawn on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017 at the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City. The traditional "Salubong" rite reenacts the encounter of the risen Christ and the Virgin Mary. Danny Pata

Ginanap ang tradisyunal na salubong sa Sto. Niño de Tondo Church para sa Linggo ng Pagkabuhay o Easter Sunday. Ulat ni @SuperAlj19. pic.twitter.com/M6SIto5luc

— YouScoop (@YouScoop) April 16, 2017

Traditional Easter Sunday salubong rites at the Sto. Cristo - St. Andrew Kim Parish in Bocaue, Bulacan. | @tj_roxaspic.twitter.com/TzvN9SXjRH

— GMA News (@gmanews) April 16, 2017

In the town of Tagkawayan in Quezon province, the Salubong was held after midnight and was attended by many devotees. 

At the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, the procession started around 11:50 p.m. on Saturday and ended at about 12:30 a.m. of Easter Sunday, GMA News stringer Peewee Bacuño reported.

—Joseph Tristan Roxas/KG, GMA News