Easter – The Lord is Risen

The real holiday here is Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Shops and restaurants are shuttered and the town is incredibly quiet and empty. Fortunately, there were one or two little places open where I could get something to eat and some stuff for the house.

Yesterday, Saturday, the town began to come back to life. In the evening the streets were alive with the usual traffic of people enjoying the town square and finding food at restaurants and pulperias. In the evening the Easter Vigil began with an hour long candlelight processional through the town. Obviously this event is rather important in the lives of the parishioners because many of them had specially made candle holders that would hold the candles high above their heads and keep the wind from blowing them out and wax from falling on their hands and shoulders. When I arrived at the church, no one seemed to really know where the procession was so I went into the church and sat to enjoy the relative quiet. As usual, the lights were off except for one at the lectern. The baptismal candidates were waiting in white shirts and black pants or skirts. I will have to track down who these people were because it seems so strange to have so many young adults being baptized at that age and willing to spend a year in preparation.

When the procession arrived the church went from a cool sanctuary to people standing in the aisles and hundreds of candles adding to the sudden rise in temperature. I was happy to have a seat. As the service progressed, it was obvious that many were suffering from the heat. I noticed a number of people slip out and return in a few minutes with bags of soda or bottles of water which they passed to the rest of their families.

Easter Vigil, especially the full meal deal which we enjoyed last night, is a long service. The readings begin in Genesis and wend their way through the Old Testament and Apocryphal writings into the New Testament and end with the resurrection story in the Gospels. Fortunately, I am somewhat familiar with the readings so was able to follow fairly well.

In addition to the readings there was blessing of the water, baptism and, finally, the usual Eucharist celebration. All this takes about four and a half hours so it was tough for the musicians and the people who were forced to stand in the aisles. Obviously, the holy water is a very important part of people’s lives here. I understand it is used for medicinal purposes throughout the year. Hundreds of people had empty bottles of various sizes to be filled. The bottles were filled at the end of the service and the lines for the water stretched out into the street. That is a first time for me to see this part of the service taken so seriously by the laity.

The music group opened with a wonderful Latino number that featured the pulsing Latino guitar sounds that are so traditional. The soloist was very good and so the effect was wonderful. They ended up with a mariachi band song complete with accordion and trumpets.

The young people had put together some small sketches to illustrate the resurrection and the subsequent conquest of evil. Jesus was complete in white robes and a reggae type wig (not sure that was as historically accurate as it might have been). Between the risen Lord and a friendly helper carrying a Holy Bible aloft the dark, evil character was finally vanquished out of the church.

I came to the office to water the plants but, alas, the water is off so it will wait until tomorrow. I see the plants are handling a couple of warm days quite well so that is nice. The high humidity must help along with the several tall palm trees we have on the property.

Two interesting stories from a conversation on Friday. A group of people were hoping to acquire land to start some projects. They didn’t have the money at the time. What they did was to organize a number of local peasants and landless people to move onto the land they were looking at and become squatters. Once the original owner had relinquished ownership, they paid these peasants a pittance and helped them return to their original home and, finally, had the land the wanted in the first place.

The second story revolves around a local man who has Down syndrome. His family moved here about twenty-five years ago when the dam was being built. After the mine was built the family moved away and left the young man to fend for himself. Somehow, he teamed up with a girl who is slightly mentally handicapped but smart enough to be his handler. Together they work the people and, thanks to Herman’s begging skills, are able to make a reasonable living. It is fascinating to watch them in action.

During the past two or three days a local establishment has generously shared their music at full volume during the daylight hours. The local churches take over in the evenings and into the night hours. With the warmer weather, windows are kept open so these musical and semi-musical offerings are able to permeate the house without obstruction.

In just a couple of weeks the town is going to celebrate fair days. A friend of mine showed me the local cock fighting arena and gambling venue that will be part of the action. Outside of town are the rodeo grounds which will also be full of action. It should be quite exciting.

TTYL
Bryan