Holy Week in B/manga

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Ok, Chantal, here it goes, although I cannot promise anything. You see, my so-called passive life leaves me no choice but spend days with little going on in my life. As usual, you, my friend, are absolutely right and I must write some lines about that very little... well, these days we or should I say, they, are celebrating the Holy Week. What a sinner I am...

But before, some of the background...



Contrary to your multicultural societies, we Colombians grow Roman catholic, not much choice there, though 😊 and due to the Spanish evangelisation in South America, most countries are big in this week's celebration. The event goes from the Palm Sunday to the Easter Sunday, whose spotlights are Christ's cruxifiction and his return from death. Therefore, these days, which are an opportunity for catholics to show their fervor, are then full of processions, masses, confessions, communions, and solemn rites.



For others, it is just a way of enjoying their holiday-making period as they fly to their lovely resort destinations; as a matter of fact, many people head to the Colombian Coast, notably Cartagena and SantaMarta whose sandy beaches attract thousands of tourists from Colombia and abroad. I must say that this unforgiveable sinner, that means ME, was supposed to be mislead too, yeah, I was heading to El Cabo de la Vela, but due to an unfortunate incident at home, travel was cancelled and I spent the time, devoting myself to lesson preparation and catching up with the organisation of my work.



In Colombia, there are two cities which are highly renowned for the beauty and mysticism of the Holy Week's celebrations: Popayán and Pamplona; the former, which apart from offering monumental sites thanks to its great colonial architecture, ranks first as far as these celebrations are concerned. They date from around 1558, so they really know what to do in a week like this. Pamplona, the city where I lived for 4 years, holds impressive processions and the pasos now, are richly decorated; in fact, one of the latest acquisitions I watched on TV, includes glass statues which apart from looking stunning, they make it easy for the nazarenos to carry, to the point that children have been now called to carry the lighter statues.



Apparently, the origin of the traditions in these two cities is marked by misfortune and prayers. Popayan, for one, was devastated by a huge earthquake in 1983 And legend has it that in 1599, the people from Pamplona were attacked by a fatal viral epidemic causing the death of thousands of Pamplonians. The inhabitants then organised a procession carrying the image of Jesus in the cross. One day later, the epidemic disappeared and as a sign of thanks, the tradition has turned this episode into one of the most solemn events in the country.



I had to admit that I didn't follow the Holy Week the way I should...too much negligence, I suppose. and yet, I saw myself reliving past moments in religious history, and soon was my mind occupied with images of prayer and betrayal. Funnily enough, I remember when in my childhood and adolescence, I used to read and sing at church so often that I once considered becoming a priest, thanks God I didn't. Anyway, I attended the Good Friday celebrations which I consider one of the most important events in the week. The spotlight here is the Sermon of the Seven Words and its -sometimes- meaningful interpretation by the priests. The cruxifiction also plays a very solemn role in the ceremony.



As I stated above, these days were full of mysticism and prayers, which was a bit of a change for me as I haven't been what people call 'a good catholic' all this time. But the Holy Week allowed me to reflect on past times and approach church. There I was on Friday, listening to the 7 Words Speech, and trying to concentrate on this year's monotonous if not boring speech. It seems that in spite of the variety of priests devoted to the Sermon, the monotony of the speech was still there and didn't help at all. Maybe I was lucky on past years, when I had lively memories of the Holy Friday. This year, in contrast, OMG, the priests were far too repetitive and nothing different from what you read in a leaflet was said. There was this word: 'Hoy estaras conmigo en el paraiso' and the priest repeat it like thousand times without giving any concrete teaching, I must admit that repetition, sometimes, might add to the seriousness of an act, but here it seems to me it was only beating about the bush and nothing came out of it. Hey, here I said it, and sorry but that's what I felt. I hope this won't trouble anyone 😊



I remember that after the 3rd word, I was considering leaving and follow the ceremony on TV, but I waited hoping for some improvement; and luckily the ceremony got better once the unnailing from the cross started. Although I went to a very small church, the ceremony was done in such a way that I saw myself standing there in awe, feeling guilty for all the absence from church and being inspired by the suffering of Christ in the cross. By the way, if any priest happens to read this entry, let me say that some of us just want to listen to something different and how the suffering of Jesus can be felt in our everyday lives, not that we're suffering the same, not at all, but how can we apply the teachings of his last words in our own lives. For example, when he says he's thirsty, are we also thirsty of anything, is it only fluid that we long for or is it sth deeoer we want; oh, well, I don't know, but I reckon the 7 words are such a big material for conversion, or just ignore me, I'm possibly a mere shadow and cannot be advising priests about what to preach, sorry.



Processions



All in all, it is a shame I didn't attend one of the huge processions of Pamplona, which I followed on TV and I hope to do it next year. The one I had here was very small but still following the respected scenario, here you had the usual Nazarenos, carrying the pasos which are the statues depicting all the pain and anxiety experienced by Jesus and few followers. Yeah, I said few, if we take into account the uncountless number of followers, there were thousands, but when the moment came, even his most ardent disciples were not there; if you look at the images of the processions, you will see that apart from his beloved John and mournful mother, only anonymous characters were there wailing and suffering: notably, Veronica, the anonymous woman who came to wipe his face, Joseph de Arimatea, the one who offered to keep Jesus's body.



And that is what I think of during these processions, how I see myself depicted in this ceremony. How many times have I abandoned friends or family once the situation turned sad, either for feeling useless or not having anything to say, and yet, we don't understand that being there means a lot for people in pain, being there is like showing that no matter what, we'll stand by them, this is really sth I have to work on.



The sadness of the event is even more monumental given the silence on the street, people here really mourned in their own way, and this is what's beautiful, we don't have to say anything, just our silence shows complicity and sympathy towards our beloved Jesus, these are the biggest signs I experienced during the procession.



I must say that these times have changed so much, before you had to actually be there if you didn't want to miss one of these ceremonies, you had to stand bad smells, the crowd of the church, and the like; now, on the other hand, you can now tune in any channel and attend any mass or procession as there are many programmes at the same time. The sad thing is if people see it only as a mere way of entertaining and comforting themselves, in that case the equivalence of the ceremonies would lose all its essence.



Having said that, if the church wants people to return, they must work on it so that we don't have resource to TV sets in order to avoid those long hours of speeches.



Later in the evening, as you can see from the pictures, I saw some of my colleagues and we had a lovely evening listening to nice music and talking about work, well, what else can you talk about in these times? I think the Sermon of the Seven Words would be too much to take after all.



Well, I think that will do for now, the ceremonies have not finished yet, so if I get to see sth different, I will take my camera and share it with all of you. Thanks again for the encouragement, I hope you're not disappointed with my short entry.



FELICES PASCUAS A TODOS

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Photos

A nice view of the procession
As a latecomer, I sat down outside the Church

People getting ready for the procession
They had their own monument

My colleague Dilma and her sister
My colleagues Dilma and Yamile, the one in the middle is Martin, Yamile's son Etremely well-behaved friends

Gethsemane, The Mount of Olives?
I couldn't help but notice that the Olive Tree, the real witness of that betrayal was not there in the statue. What happened? I wondered. I remember the one in my hometown, that was big.

Our Lady of the Sorrows
This was a statue to reflect on Maria's sufferings which were most enduring. From Jesus's childhood, every single pain had been announced and she knew how to weep to somehow alleviate her pain