At the break of dawn, Belen Perolina and her family wake up to start the day. She quickly prepares a simple breakfast for her brood to nourish them for the busy day ahead. It is less than two weeks before the Catholic Church commemorates Palm Sunday — the Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem — which calls them to prepare for annual opportunity to be of service to their faith while augmenting their honest and humble livelihood.

Blessed with hectares upon hectares of coconut trees in this vastly agricultural area, the Perolinas and their neighbors begin their harvest of young coconut leaves a fortnight before Palm Sunday to use for the “palaspas” they would weave and sell in various churches in Manila.

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