Semana Santa

 

 Semana Santa (or Holy Week) is the Spanish name for Easter. It dates back to the 16th century when the Church decided to present the story of the Passion of Christ in a way that the layperson could understand. It was decided that the best way to do this would be a series of processions through the streets, depicting scenes from the story of the fall and rise again of Jesus Christ.

The events from Thursday evening never really stop, with processions from Thursday night (the early hours of Friday morning) until Friday evening. Unless you have an excellent capacity to drink large quantities of coffee, you'll have to miss some of it to get a little beauty sleep. The events of Thursday night/Friday morning are the most important, so plan your sleep around this fact. The mass of Easter Sunday, the last day of Semana Santa, is also important. The hoods that have been worn throughout the week to signify mourning at the death of Jesus Christ, are taken off to celebrate the resurrection. (It should be noted that the hoods have nothing to do with the Ku Klux Klan, to which they are so often compared. It is said that early KKK members saw the Semana Santa celebrations and adopted the costume, so impressed were they by the effect the design had on onlookers.)

REJOICE! HE LIVES!