Good Friday Procession

Sorry that this post is a bit late! Last Saturday, we said goodbye to our last guest. We have had friends and family in our apartment for the last 3 weeks! We enjoyed their company, but now we're trying to clean the apartment and plan for lessons. After we have people in our apartment, we always give ourselves one full day of being absolutely lazy. We did nothing, yet the time seemed to fly by (how is it 5pm already?!)

I really need to post these pictures from the Good Friday Procession during Easter week (or Semana Santa as they call it here). This is the day they really celebrate; when it's Easter Sunday, you don't see anyone outside. I guess they are eating with their families or sleeping because everything is closed. But Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified, is a large solemn event. There are parades all over the cities that range in scariness. I say this because in all of the parades, there are people wearing large hoods over their faces. As an American, I have a negative image of this garb, since it is similar to the KKK hats. The truth is that the KKK took the idea of these hats for their organization; the actual meaning behind the hats is very different in a Good Friday procession. They are worn by believers who are repenting for their sins and wish to remain anonymous. There are also several other groups who follow in the parade. One is a large group of women in black with beautiful mantillas (the veils on their heads) to show they are in mourning. The weirdest part was the ordinary people who were barefoot and had chains on their ankles. You could hear them dragging their chains on the street, which had a pretty ominous feeling to it.

The procession began with a team of soldiers on horses.



Then came the first few of the hooded people. Here's one carrying a large silver cross.



Here is a hooded person with a few of the ladies in black. Every group that passed by had a flag of a saint. I think they were parts of different groups in the church.



Here's a photo of the large marching band. I'm not sure if that's appropriate, since they weren't really marching as much as solemnly walking in a procession. At times, they would play something, but it was always in a somber mood. In many processions, they don't have music at all--just methodical drums. Pretty ominous if you ask me.



Here are some of the citizens who participated in the procession by walking barefoot and wearing chains on their ankles. I'm sure it wasn't painful, but the sound of the chains was quite creepy.



Here's a group of the ladies in black. I love those mantillas!



Here's the grand finale that is unique in every procession-the float. Every parish procession has a different image; it's either the Virgin Mary or Christ. This one shows the Resurrected Christ. You also can see that the hooded people flank the float.



It was quite an interesting event. Not something you would see on the other side of the Atlantic.

We are going to Rome this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed that the volcanic ash from Iceland won't delay our plane!