Semana Santa (as promised)

"The neighbors of Clavijero Strreet are invited to decorate the front of their houses with purple and white for the Way of the Cross of the Young People's Procession 2011, Friday, April 22 at 11am. Christ lives!"

We'd seen the hand-lettered signs posted around the neighborhood, but we were still unprepared on Good Friday when a procession came in front of the house. The young people from El Sagrario, a picturesque church down the hill in Centro, were re-enacting the Stations of the Cross, or Via Crucis. So Mark got his hat and I grabbed my umbrella, and we followed the rather large crowd as they went through the neighborhood.

Emergency assistance at the back of the procession

We stopped at the back gate of the Ex-Colegio Jesuita, where we waited for about 20 minutes before the gates opened. There, on top of a small mound (that is said to be the remains of a pre-Conquest pyramid) the major personalities of the Crucifixion were already in place. Along the slope were several women in robes, and a man portraying Joseph of Aremithea, with Mary Magdelene much farther down the slope. Several Roman soldiers were on top of the mound with the cross and the young man portraying Jesus was tied to the cross and raised up. Mary and Martha were kneeling below the cross.

A man had been reading from a script throughout the procession, and at this point he asked the crowd to kneel, which they did. The young man on the cross proclaimed  "Está terminado!" (It is finished.), and the reader asked the crowd to bow down; the ones who were able to (some were too old to do that) put their heads on the ground.

At the end, the crowd left in silence, and the young man was helped out by friends, obviously exhausted both physically and mentally by his experience.

Jesus' coffin from the Basilica

That night we attended the Procession of the Crosses, from the churches in town, accompanied by parishioners carrying candles. The procession began in front of the Basilica and went down to Plaza Chica, moved on to Plaza Grande and finally returned to the Basilica. Some of the crosses, from the major churches, were very large and obviously heavy because there were extra bearers who were ready to take over from someone who needed to rest. Following the crosses were images of the Virgin, carried by women. The crowd watched respectfully as the procession passed.

The Hermanos Encapuchados and the Procession of Silence

On Saturday night we watched the Procession of Silence, which to me was much more profound. The Hermanos Encapuchados (the Hooded Brothers) walk barefoot through the town accompanied only by a mournful bugle and muffled drums, and the people watching maintain silence. (Except for one old woman, who was forcefully scolded by another woman, telling her to have some respect and be quiet.) It was quite eerie to see these men, robed and hooded in black or purple, walking slowly through town.

A short video of the Procession of Silence:

By Sunday morning the purple had been removed from the altars of the churches and the Easter season was coming to a close. The last event, for Sunday night, was the annual Burning of Judas, which we chose not to attend (though we did see the spectacular fireworks from our house.) Judas is paraded through the streets before being set on fire. He's stuffed with noisy fireworks which explode as he burns. Maybe next year.

More photos from the processions:

The procession from the Basilica went on into the night

One group of the Hermanos Encapuchados

Solemn women accompanying a statue of the Virgin

Some were not appropriately dressed--is that a corset?

But there are always angels