Monday, April 06, 2009

Semana Santa


Well we going to experience Semana Santa coming up. In Mexico it is one of the important holidays probably 2nd after Christmas. It's a time were very little work gets done, and a lot of noise and traffic is generated by students out of school and working people not working.

Some people actually go to church on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Following the Sunday, you can figure that half the work force will have a difficult time showing up in the few days past the Sunday. Lot of Mexicans go on vacation since not much gets done anyway so why not just write the whole week off?

The lodging business is always happy for the week since many visitors descend on both beaches and homes of family and relatives from lots of far away places.

Lots of traditional things infest the week, one of which is the habit of tossing eggs filled with hard to clean up confetti. These little confetti bombs are called Cascarones. The tradition is to take these filled eggs and find a subject and surprise them by bashing the egg on the head of the victim. Nothing better than having your hair filled with tiny bits of paper for the rest of the day!

When done outside, (most of the time) they usually stay on the little pits of the pavement or road crevices until the first major rain of the season, then they float up and continue to make nice messes on their way out to where every the go. I wonder how that tradition started, probably by some broom manufacturer or a way to get rid of some paper , who knows?

Some communities will have a Passion Play. That's where various participating members of groups either carry the cross, or recreate the last supper, or walk in large procession through the streets of their town.

These tradition are nice to see especially in the main Cathedrals of the towns, where beautifully decorated altars bring together the devotion of the Catholics of Mexico. Patzcuaro is one of the towns that offers spectacular displays of this tradition. In addition Mexico City,Sam Luis Potosi and Aguascalientes are know for their displays also.


4 comments:

Don Cuevas said...

We usually stay home during this event, as the roads into Pátzcuaro become as congested as the Centro.

But this year, my sister-in-law is visiting, so it looks as if we'll be seeing some of the attractions of Pátzcuaro while she's here.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

Tancho said...

Yes, Patzcuaro is not a pretty place with the traffic backed up! Felipe had the right idea.
At least we have an alternative to buzz down to if we really need something.

GDLforNOW said...

Hello there! We are headed to Patzcuaro on Friday (from GDL) and now I am wondering about the traffic getting there. We planned to leave GDL as early as poss to make it to Passon Play. Can you give me any tips? Thanks.

Tancho said...

Since GDL to Patzcuaro is going to be about 4 hours, leave as early as you can. The traffic is bearable, just not fun. One this would be to go on the pereferico as you come into town, not the centro, park elsewhere and take a taxi to the center. That may help you.
Have fun!