Semana Santa

Wow! Holy week is quite a thing to witness! I feel like I do not have the words to explain what I experienced this past week… maybe because such a celebration does not occur in the US. I will try to clearly articulate and paint you a verbal picture of what I saw this week.

Holy week started last Sunday with Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos). From what I understand Palm Sunday is where the traditions of making carpets, for Holy Week, started. In Matt 21:8 Jesus makes a triumphal enter and, “ a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them over the road.” Based on this verse the people on Antigua have developed a tradition of making elaborate cloaks, or carpets (alfombras) out of painted sawdust (see pictures below). To represent the branches they use pine needles, leaves, fruits and vegetables. These detailed carpets are made every time they act out Jesus entering the city. When Jesus or the Virgin Mary makes an “appearance” it is called a Procession. They place a life size statue of Jesus on a platform called an anda, and then anywhere from 50-100 volunteers carry Jesus or the virgin around on their shoulders. So in preparation for a procession, which is sponsored by varying catholic churches around Antigua, the people make and design alfombras for Jesus to pass over… so he doesn’t have to walk on the street.

I have witnessed many processions this week. 2 on Palm Sunday, 1 on Holy Wednesday, 2 on Holy Thursday, 4 on Holy Friday, 2 on Holy Saturday, and 1 on Holy Sunday! With the bigger, heavier, platforms there are 100 shoulder slots for volunteers to carry Jesus. These volunteers rotate every block because the weight is too much to bear for any longer than it takes to walk one block. So, if you are doing the math, 100 volunteers per block for a 50 block procession means that 5,000 volunteers, at least, partake in each procession! The platforms with Jesus on them are always carried by the men volunteers, and the platforms with the virgin Mary are always carried by the women volunteers. The processions almost always have two platforms, therefore, there are easily 8,000-10,000 volunteers in a given procession!

The processions on Good Friday are by far the most elaborate. Catholics are very focused on the death of Christ for the redemption of our sins, and therefore Good Friday is the most celebrated day of Holy Week. My Good Friday started at 12 am. I walked around the town, with friends I met at language school, and watched members of the community begin laying the ground work for their elaborate carpets. At 3 am the sentence of Jesus was read city wide by volunteers dressed as Roman soldiers on horseback. At 5 am The Procession of the Penance of Jesus left the Catholic Church nearest to my house. The procession started with Roman Soldiers on horse back, followed by the volunteers (dressed in purple robes) not currently carrying the platform, next came Jesus carry the cross on the platform, he was followed by another platform of the virgin Mary crying. There is a cathedral, in front of the city square at the center of Antigua. At 12 pm sharp, in front of the main entrance, they nailed a life size statue of Jesus to the cross, as well as the statues of the two robbers. At 3pm a Roman Soldier poked Jesus in the side with a lance, and then they took Jesus down from the cross. They took him inside the church and laid him on a stone slab (to represent the tomb) which was located on a platform. Then 80 volunteers carried Jesus, on the platform, out of the cathedral and down the front steps. The beginning of yet another procession (see pictures below). Following Jesus was the virgin Mary crying and dressed in black, as well as John and Mary Magdalene, dressed in black as well. There were two processions on Friday night. They both were separate versions of the same thing… Jesus in a glass coffin on a platform with the virgin Mary behind him mourning. The last procession did not return to the church until 4:30 am of Saturday morning. If you can’t tell, it was an ALL day event!

There were processions on Saturday and Sunday as well but they definitely failed in comparison to the processions on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday the size of the crowds decreased and life in Antigua began to return to normal. Though the majority of Antigua was asleep Sunday morning, I was able to celebrate resurrection Sunday with a small, very friendly and welcoming church of Christ that I found on the south side of Antigua!

Happy Easter!