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Published: March 27th 2008
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Easter is taken quite seriously in Ouro Preto. In fact, they produce a whole programme of events for Semana Santa. It was a privilege being there and watching what goes on.
Good Friday In the evening we got wind of a procession taking place. We followed the crowds out to the other side of town to one of the many churches dotted around. There we saw the church illuminated in somewhat garish yellow and green. Outside a huge stage had been erected for a recreation of the crucifixion, complete with Roman centurions and a large group of wingèd angels. It was like being at a pop concert or a political rally, but the sight of the candy floss sellers brought you back to Earth with a bump!
The mass went on a long, long time and we escaped for a while to eat. On our return we sensed that mass must be ending soon and the procession beginning. Instead of going back to the church we found a good vantage point on a sloping wall. There we waited, and waited, and waited! Opposite us was a beautifully decorated house where a mother and daughter (about 6 years old)
Pop Concert?
Mass actually. were dressed as angels in white dresses with wonderful wings. Once they got in position outside their door we guessed the procession was about to start.
At the head of the procession were people dressed as biblical characters. It wasn’t easy distinguishing your Luke from your John so each was preceded by a standard bearer to assist the onlookers! It was like a scene from a bizarre heavenly Olympic opening ceremony!! Following them were the Romans, then the faithful carrying the body of Christ on His death bed. All round the procession the ordinary masses marched, some making rattling noises with some sort of shuffle board.
As the end of the procession passed us, we cut through the back streets and up and down some hills. We got to our pousada before the procession did. Who knows what time they reached their destination which was down a very steep hill from where we were staying.
Easter Saturday A 2km route is prepared with coloured flour, sawdust and wood chips. Various scenes are depicted along the streets and the preparation often goes on until the early hours of the morning.
Where were we? Sat drinking on
the terrace of a bar on the opposite side of town wondering where all of this was going on! Needless to say we can’t tell you much more about this!!
Easter Sunday Mass apparently begins at 6am and a huge procession along the route decorated during the night begins at 8am. Did we get out of bed to see it?
We were looking around a different part of town at about 9.30 when Russ spotted the procession in the distance. There then followed a mad dash around narrow cobbled streets trying to find the procession. Our first sight of the wonderfully decorated street was a few specks of sawdust after the army of cleaners had done their job. We raced past them and the piles of sawdust got bigger and bigger. Eventually we caught up with the head party of the cleaners and managed to see some of the colourful street before it was swept up! Unfortunately we didn’t get to see it at its best but you got the gist of what it must have been like!
We caught up with the procession about three quarters of the way through an open air mass. Lots
of children were dressed up as angels and it was good to see some of them being mischievous!
On our way back down the hill into town we became aware of various decorations hung outside houses on the procession’s route. Some of them portrayed biblical scenes whilst others looked like colourful bedspreads or blankets. It was a bright and cheery spectacle on a Sunday morning.
So, that was Easter. We didn’t even treat ourselves to a chocolate egg. But if you’ve read the previous blog, you’ll know we had some wonderful cake instead!!!
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