Palm Sunday and Village Visits

Our group woke up early on Palm Sunday to head into town. It was our first day of procession celebrations and the first I'd seen any programs for Semana Santa--Holy Week. Just passing by a church I'd seen before, quiet and calm, showed the juxtaposition of the experience. It was now bustling with food vendors, and many people selling cloths, jewelry, and flutes. We made our way to Escuela de Christo, a church where we thought the Passion was going to be performed. Antigua does not release the Holy Week schedules until the day of, so we were disappointed to find out that the Passion was not at this church. We bought elaborate palms, however, and people watched for a few minutes.

Andrew and me with our palms

We continued on to a Catholic Church that is a hospital for the physically and mentally handicapped. There were rows of people in wheelchairs, with different levels of disabilities, awaiting the Blessing of the Palms. Nuns in full habits intertwined through the parked wheelchairs and grasped the hands of the hospital residents. Their faces stretched with smiles and a few crossed themselves, demonstrating the simple joy of a holiday and a pure love of life. A priest emerged from the church and performed the blessing, dousing the crowd in holy water and incense as we shook our palms joyfully in the air. Though I could not understand the service, it was still a beautiful experience.

As we passed through Parque Central again, we were surprised and elated to see the Passion being performed--we found it! We watched Jesus bless the Woman at the Well and peeked behind us to see Zacchaeus perched in a tree observing. After watching for a while, we went to La Merced, the main cathedral in town. Finally, we were going to see our first of the many Holy Week processions. The crowd pushed us against the walls of the houses and I craned my neck to see the elaborate carpet on the ground. Dozens, if not hundreds, of men in purple robes and white head wear lined the streets. Men dressed as Centurion Soldiers pressed us closer and closer together and we finally saw the enormous float come around the corner. 80 men were carrying the 8000 pound float on their shoulders, grimacing as the weight and heat pressed them into the ground. Though they were obviously in pain, it was clear that the somber procession was a deeply cultural and spiritual experience for them. As though they were helping carry the cross for Jesus, the men shouldered the weight with pride and determination. A band played somber music behind the float and despite the heat and dozens of vendors around us, it was an intensely religious experience.

A few of the carpets on the street

As Holy Week took a few days to pause in the celebrations, we soldiered on in exploring Antigua. On Monday morning, we were given a full tour of Common Hope, the NGO we are staying at and with which University Congregation is affiliated. The organization was started as a way to increase education in a predominantly uneducated and illiterate country. Children and, by proxy, families are sponsored by generous donors abroad. These sponsorships give a child school supplies, a uniform, free access to a clinic and healthcare, and opportunities for housing and other living supplies. Common Hope is not a hand out organization, but instead requires the families to put in hours for some projects such as housing. I believe that the future of developing nations lies in community development programs based on empowerment instead of direct hand outs. Common Hope works hard to help people help themselves, as well as encourage children to graduate high school in a country where most students don't make it past elementary school. After the tour, a few of our group committed to sponsoring a child. If you are interested in learning more about the organization or sponsoring a child, please check out their website here.

In the afternoon, we went on a tour of the nearby villages, or pueblos, of Antigua. If Antigua seemed shrouded in poverty, the pueblos were an unexpected cultural shock for someone like me, who has only traveled in the Western World. Each village we visited centered around the church. The people are proud of their places of worship and the space around them. In the last village we visited, there was a Holy Week vigil going on. The church's theme was Jesus feeding the 5,000 and the scene was complete with a elaborate set design, complex airbrushed sand carpet, and various offerings of fruit and bread. The community comes together to make the celebration happen, and it is an amazing example of combined effort producing beautiful results.

The backdrop of the village church

-Emily-