Holy Week

The week leading up to Easter includes the most elaborate festivites of the year for many Central American countries. Antigua, Guatemala is the Holy Week hub for all Central America. Throughout the week, in Tactic, there have been processions through the streets of town. These are basically somber parades with depressing music played by marching bands, heavy floats of Jesus and Mary carried on people's shoulders, elaborate prayers that can be heard across town crackling through the procession speakers, and intricate and colourful carpets of dyed sawdust and flower petals carefully laid on the cement or cobbled streets. People dress in purple, decorate their houses in purple and white, light incense, and attend church services. For Catholics, which is the majority of the population, this is the most important time of year.

For Evangelical Christians, Easter also represents the most important religious event. Yet for us, there are no processions, no purple clothes, and no colourful carpets on the streets. Why?

I do not have room to explain it all, nor do I understand all that Catholics believe. But I will tell you this: for us Easter is about celebrating Jesus' resurrection from the dead. We acknowledge that He died, but God, in his mercy, raised Jesus back to life. God accepted Jesus' death as a once and for all sacrifice for all our sins, allowing us to be forgiven and live in community with God both here on Earth and one day in Heaven. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is offered to us. And our God is not dead! He is living and powerful and still at work in this world. We have no reason to be somber.

Why don't we just have our own parades of celebration? The Catholics have taken it so far to one extreme, that Evangelicals have gone the opposite and celebrate that Jesus is alive in a regular Sunday service the same as any week. In a reaction to the big Catholic event, we have separated ourselves.

Nonetheless, it has been interesting this week to observe the festivities and experience this cultural holiday in a way that doesn't happen in North America. It is also wonderful to have a week off from work to relax, spend time with my boyfriend, Steve, who has come to visit me, and travel a bit outside of Tactic. With Catholic festivites, showing Steve around Guatemala, and the unforgettable truth of what Jesus did on the cross, this has been a memorable week. Happy (belated) Easter to you all.

People making a sawdust carpet before a procession, just up the street from my house.

A float in a Catholic Holy Week procession. This picture was taken from my doorstep.