Journal of American Folk-Lore/Volume 12/Issue 46/Holy Week in Mexico
HOLY WEEK IN MEXICO.
Several elements enter into the Holy Week celebration in Mexico. Much of it is no doubt to be found in every Catholic land; some is Spanish simply; some is peculiar to Mexico, or is so tinged with local color as to be almost so. We make no attempt to separate these elements; we aim only to present a sketch of the celebration.
To describe Holy Week celebration in Mexico in detail and adequately would require long study; the results would fill a large volume. The Passion Play alone—celebrated in hundreds of places and varying profoundly with locality—presents an enormous field. The observances in Casas de ejereios, "houses of exercise,"—including retreat, meditation, prayer, fasting, wearing of thorn crowns, flagellation, etc., not here at all discussed,—deserves careful investigation. This paper is merely suggestive of the opportunity the subject presents for folk-lore study.
VIERNES DE DOLORES: FRIDAY OF GRIEF.
The celebrations begin on the Friday preceding Palm Sunday. Notwithstanding its sad name, the day is a gala day. Floral decorations are to be everywhere seen. Music is rendered in the Plaza; crowds of well-dressed persons are on the promenades. Enterprising merchants send out men with great baskets full of bouquets of fine flowers, which are given to all ladies. In the City of Mexico, a procession of boats and canoes, beautifully decorated with flowers, takes place on the Viga Canal. In cities, cheap decorations are sold to the poor,—artificial flowers, miniature trees, palms, ferns, cycad fronds, little glass globes filled with bright red or yellow water. Men, women, and children sit in the market-place braiding flowers, stars, and crowns of palm, which are sold for a cent or two cents each. The articles are carried to the churches, and placed as decorative gifts upon or about the altar. During the day, in thousands of humble homes, little shrines or altars are fitted up and decorated with these simple things; at the centre of them all is the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, or of the Christ on the cross. At evening, tapers are lighted before them, and through the open door the passer catches many a glimpse.
PALM SUNDAY.
On Saturday and on Palm Sunday, venders of palms may be seen everywhere in the Plaza, the market, and the churchyard. The palms may be sold in strips, or these may be plaited and braided into curious and quaint decorative forms. They are carried by their purchasers to the church for blessing. The procession of persons carrying these palms in the church is a pretty sight. After being taken home, a part of the palm may be burned, while the rest is fastened outside the house to door-posts or window lattices. There it remains until the following year as a reminder, and also as a protection against lightning, pest, and bad spirits.
PASSION PLAY.
At Zapotlan the celebration, until lately, was as follows:—
On Wednesday night there was a great procession. Three death figures, made of cane and representing Ambrosio, Jesua, and the other, were carried on a platform. The bearers were all in white. They were led by a man walking, and ringing a great bell. After them came a band of twenty or thirty men: each carried a long pole, the lower end of which was supported by his girdle; at the top of each pole was a wooden figure of Christ, white or black, these men carrying figures were called atolleritos. Next came large images of Christ displayed on wooden frameworks called armazones; these were carefully made of fine wood, and each required for its carriage, and steadying by ropes, some twenty men: there were some twenty or thirty of these armazones, each representing a considerable expense. On Thursday the priest preached a sermon from an open-air pulpit. At the proper moment, to illustrate his sermon,—descriptive of the Passion,—the procession appeared. It consisted of the three deaths, the atolleritos, a band of men who were manacled, Christ, and Simon of Cyrene bearing the cross, Pharisees, Veronica with her sweat-cloth, and the armazones. The Pharisees were a motley crowd: they were Indians without shirts, with brimless hats, and with their drawers rolled up to their possible limit; they were all smutted, and carried lances and clubs. The preacher pointed to one and another element in the procession and drew his lesson. In his excitement and grief he smote his face with his hand, and the whole crowd of auditors did the same in a paroxysm of grief. On Friday the same was done. On Saturday the programme was varied. A procession took place, in which the personages were images carried singly or in tableau groups. The order was,—Mary Magdalene, the Holy Burial, Virgin of Soledad, St. John, St. Peter. The figure of the Magdalene was carried, running hither and thither, seeking a burial-place for the Lord. The celebration ended with the burning of Judas after dark.
At San Andres, near Guadalajara, it is celebrated in an open lot, directly in front of the church, measuring about 100 × 200 yards, and inclosed by a low wall. On either side and at the farther end is an elevated platform. In the centre is a pole with a cross-beam, tied near the top and allowed to swing free at the ends. The players, costumed and masked, begin to arrive at about noon. Among them are members of the Jewish council, Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate. The Roman centurion, with red dress and brazen helmet, is mounted and rides back and forth. Judas, in a long scarlet gown, "passes blithely about among the crowd, making much of his thirty pieces." The judges seat themselves on the platform. Soon a door opens and soldiers and officers appear leading Jesus by a chain. His long hair hangs loosely and he wears a purple robe; he shows signs of fatigue and suffering. He is dragged before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and then again to Pilate. Amid great clamor he is condemned. He is stripped for scourging, but each of those deputed to perform the task falls helpless as if paralyzed. Judas comes in and tries to return the money; when it is refused, he casts it on the floor and hastens out to hang himself. In great excitement, all crowd around the gibbet. The rope is put over his head, he is hoisted ten feet into the air, struggles and dies (three minutes later he is lowered, slips off the noose, and walks away). Meantime the cross has been brought and laid upon Jesus; it is barely higher than his body and of slender timbers. Making his journey to Calvary, he falls three times. The crowd rushes and surges around him to see. Formerly he was really hung upon the cross, but now the play ends at the arrival at the hill.
HOLY THURSDAY.
Holy oil—oil of the Catechumens—is blessed. Twelve priests and seven deacons assist as witnesses of the celebration. The bishop and priests breathe three times on the oil and the chrism, meaning by this action that the power of the Holy Spirit is about to descend upon the oils. At the conclusion of the consecration they salute the oils with the words, "Hail, holy oil; hail, holy chrism." (Guadalajara.)
On this day the candles of the Santissima are blessed. These are greatly prized, and are burned when a person is dying, to help the departing soul on its journey. (Guadalajara.)
After mass the bells are silent. "The spirits of the bells have gone to Rome." This silence remains—so far as bells are concerned—until the Gloria of Saturday, when they peal forth once more. While they are silent, great wooden rattles, called matracas, are sounded from the church towers. Small matracas, of many materials and of various patterns, are sounded by children on the street. The dealers in these toys carry frames or trees covered with them which are sold for prices from one cent up to several dollars, according to material and workmanship. Some of these, made of silver or pearl shell, are particularly prized. Horses and other beasts of burden are relieved, and the streets are quite bare of vehicles. Shops and stores are closed, and little business is done except in the selling of matracas and Judases. In many churches, beautiful decorations are arranged, and parties of visitors—ladies particularly—go on foot from church to church to view them. Sometimes these are no more than a crucified Christ laid upon the ground in front of the Virgin Mother. Very commonly a great tableau is erected of the Last Supper, with full-sized figures of Christ and the Twelve at the table.
SABADO DE GLORIA: SATURDAY OF GLORY.
During Holy Week, from Monday to Friday inclusive, parents do not whip their children, no matter how naughty they may be. On Saturday morning the children beg for matracas, Judases, and water. If the children have deserved whipping, they all of them are given their deserts, in place of "water" which they have asked. The water they refer to is the blessed water mentioned below.
Early in the morning the "new fire" struck from a flint is blessed. A candle is lighted from the spark and carried through the church by a deacon, who shouts, Lumen Christi. The paschal candle is blessed and then the font. "The priest breathes on the water in the form of a cross, and plunges the paschal candle three times into the water. Thus he shows that the Spirit of God is to hallow it, and the power of Christ is to descend upon it. The water in the font is scattered toward the four quarters of the world, to indicate the catholicity of the Church and the world-wide efficacy of her sacraments." The people then bring water for blessing, which is taken home and sprinkled, in order to keep off disease, death, and devils during the year. (Guadalajara.)
The bells wake up at nine o'clock, when the Gloria occurs in the mass. Later in the day, Judas is burned. This is perhaps the most popular celebration of the year. For several day's figures of Judas have been sold on the streets. They are of all sizes and forms, and are made of paper pulp. There are male Judases and female Judases! They may be fine gentlemen, dudes, ruffians, ass-headed beings, devils. Explosives crackers and rockets are cunningly wrought into their anatomy. Their interior may be stuffed with meat, soap, bread, candies, clothing, for the crowd. On Saturday morning these figures are hung up on cords stretched across the street, and in the large cities scores or hundreds may be suspended over a single street. Those with contents of value are so suspended as to be raised and lowered by ropes. The Judases are left undisturbed until after the peal of bells; they are then ignited or exploded, to the delight of the rabble. After being lighted, the figures containing gifts are lowered to the reach of the crowd, who struggle and fight to tear them to pieces; the fireworks in such figures are usually arranged with the purpose of shooting into and burning the contestants. For some years, the Jockey Club (English) of the City of Mexico hung out several gigantic Judases stuffed with money. When these were lighted and lowered, the club members sat in their balconies to see the struggling crowd get coppers and burns. Nowadays these clubmen on this day throw out handfuls of copper to the crowd. During the latter part of Holy Week, in the City of Mexico, little Judases, made of silver or of pottery and often less than an inch in height, are sold by thousands. These are worn, pinned on the coat lapel or to the waist, by gentlemen and ladies.
The Blessing of the Water usually takes place after the hanging and burning of Judas. It is a pretty sight. Not only the professional water-carriers (aquadores), but men, women, and children generally carry jars and vessels of water to the church; these are prettily decorated with flowers. The petitioners kneel in rows in the churchyard. Two priests come out and walk up and down these rows; the first drops a pinch of salt and prays; the second sprinkles holy water. A third priest appearing at the church door pronounces the benediction.
Frederick Starr.