Easter and seafaring

WE have just been through Holy Week, beginning with the commemoration of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through his betrayal and suffering, culminating in his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Christ's resurrection is a triumph over death, offering hope for salvation and a new life in Christ.

There is an imaginative connection between Easter, its themes of renewal and rebirth, and the seafaring life. Both are rich with metaphors of transformation, resilience, and new horizons.

Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus — a profound rebirth and the triumph of hope over despair. Sailors, on the other hand, often embark on journeys across tumultuous seas, confronting challenges and emerging renewed, much like the Easter narrative. The ocean itself symbolizes life in flux: it brings both storms and calm, danger and opportunity, offering sailors the chance to start anew with every voyage.

Seafaring also carries a sense of discovery — finding new lands, charting unknown waters — parallel to the spiritual journey of Easter, where believers navigate their faith toward renewal and a brighter future.

Ships, especially in literature and history, can serve as metaphors for renewal. Their journey through the sea can mirror the soul's passage through trials, leading to a fresh start. In this way, seafaring beautifully echoes the themes of Easter: rebirth through courage, endurance, and belief in a better tomorrow.

Filipinos are avid observers of traditional Holy Week practices such as the Pasyon, the continuous chanting or reading of narrative of Christ's life, passion, and death; the Visita Iglesia, visiting seven churches in a day, often on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, to reflect on the Stations of the Cross; religious processions, including the Salubong, a reenactment of the meeting between the Risen Christ and Mary; and the Senákulo, a dramatic reenactment of Christ's passion, death, and resurrection.

Seafarers who cannot come home to observe these practices mark Holy Week while at sea, by participating in religious gatherings, like prayers and meditations. They may also engage in penance and fasting. A good practice that has not been much explored is immersing themselves in literature of seafaring that highlights the profound connection between seafaring and the human experience of transformation. Among the most popular literary masterpieces about seafaring are "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and Moby Dick.

In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," Samuel Taylor Coleridge tells the story of a sailor's journey through guilt, redemption, and transformation. The mariner's experiences on the sea serve as an allegory for spiritual rebirth.

Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," while primarily a tale of obsession and revenge, also delves into themes of self-discovery and the transformative power of the sea.

Not so well-known is "The Seafarer." This Old English poem captures the hardships and spiritual yearning of life at sea. In its earliest written form, the poem can be found in a manuscript from "The Exeter Book," from the 10th century. Before then, it existed first as part of oral tradition.

"The Seafarer" begins with a description of the sea as a place of suffering.

How the sea took me, swept me back

And forth in sorrow and fear and pain

Showed me suffering in a hundred ships,

In a thousand ports, and in me. It tells

Of smashing surf when I sweated in the cold

Of an anxious watch, perched in the bow

As it dashed under cliffs. My feet were cast

In icy bands, bound with frost,

With frozen chains, and hardship groaned

Around my heart. Hunger tore

At my sea-weary soul...

The speaker creates a constant tension between the hardships and harshness of life at sea and the relatively comfortable life on land. He longs for the nearness of family, the solidity of land, and the comforts of a land-based life — but he nevertheless chooses his life of exile at sea. His love for the sea overpowers these challenges and keeps him strong and fearless despite the absence of worldly pleasures:

But there isn't a man on earth so proud,

So born to greatness, so bold with his youth,

Grown so grave, or so graced by God,

That he feels no fear as the sails unfurl,

Wondering what Fate has willed and will do.

The 124-line poem concludes with an exhortation to keep one's faith in God strong and unassailable.

Fate is stronger

And God mightier than any man's mind.

Our thoughts should turn to where our home is,

Consider the ways of coming there,

Then strive for sure permission for us

To rise to that eternal joy,

That life born in the love of God

And the hope of Heaven. Praise the Holy

Grace of Him who honored us,

Eternal, unchanging creator of earth. Amen.

It is most fitting that the poem ends with the word "amen," making this poem truly a prayer, a plea, a supplication offered to God, a supreme being, a higher power. May the resurrection of Christ bring us all renewed hope and joy this Easter and the rest of the year.