Image by ///brendan/// [APEX Photo] via FlickrWhile we were waiting, his sister appeared, having walked from the town centre with her shopping, so we invited her to wait with us for a lift.
The heavens opened...the rainy season is early this year.
We sat under the bus shelter...the sister's umbrella covering our feet and legs...while bolts of lightning sizzled around us and the rain bounced, steaming, from the road surface.
We chatted.
When were the Good Friday processions starting?
Oh, about eleven o'clock, I think, but the full programme is available in the church.
Same as always, then?
No...they're doing it live again this year. They stopped a few years ago and now they're starting again.
What do you mean, live?
Well, live...they're nailing the guy representing Christ to the cross outside the church. and the two thieves as well.
I don't know whether to go up to town or not.
UPDATE
Breathe again, they're using rope...I've just read the programme.
So I'll go up to town.
Dona Estrella tells me that it was indeed done 'live' not that long ago, under the aegis of a fire and brimstone priest....and there is certainly a feeling that it should be done 'live' again....but the current priest has dealt with that in masterly fashion by declaring that no one is worthy.
With man management skills like that he should be running the country.
As in really nailing them to the cross?
ReplyDeleteJesus.
Oooer, can't imagine who would volunteer for a live crucifixion although I should think if the right person were chosen, there could be quite a crowd to watch...
ReplyDeleteHope they use rope...
Is it bad that my first response to "They're doing it live again this year" response was to laugh? I haven't had coffee yet - or maybe I didn't read this right - seriously?
ReplyDeleteSome people will do anything to get noticed...
ReplyDeleteI would be fascinated to know exactly what is meant by this. Spanish and Latin-American observance of Holy Week is so much more intense, public and dramatic than we're used to.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally I'm taking part (leading a meditation) in a Maundy Thursday service this evening at which the C of S and the Free Church are getting together for the first time in this way and there will be foot-washing - a complete and radical innovation up here!
Sarah, I know it happens in the Philipines but I'd be astonished if it was happening here...still, Danilo is bringing the information sheet today, so I'll see.
ReplyDeleteSteve...well, she seemed to think so...
Valerie...there was something about the matter of fact tone that made me boggle...
Pueblo girl...I have to admit that it didn't take me long to think of The Neighbour as the perfect participant...
Perpetua...last year we were in Honduras, where the processions had a happy, even joyous tone...far from solemn.
As to what happens here, I'll see what the information sheet has to say, but I do know from other people that the participants enter a long period of instruction and meditation before the processions.
And as for foot washing in Scotland...you just watch out that the Chief Inquisitor of the Wee Frees isn't on your tracks!
I wouldn't be surprised if they used real nails and hammers.
ReplyDeleteAfter 20 years in Spain, I'm a little blasé about what passes among some for piety: people whipping and scourging themselves in public processions (televised EVERY year), people doing 10, 15, 20 km "pilgrimages" on their bare knees - and having to be rushed to the local A&E department afterwards (where, of course, they are interviewed by the press), even the odd nailing here and there. Always very public.
I wonder for whom is the glorification intended. But I'm an old cynic, and Andy Warhol's words murmur insistently in my ears.
Pueblo girl, yes, the exhibitionism leaves an unpleasant taste for me...much more pleasant the atmosphere of general participation in Honduras.
ReplyDeleteStill, I suppose each country to its own...in France the A and E is on full alert at New Year for 'oyster knife through palm of hand'....in more overtly Catholic countries the 'palm of the hand' alert must be at Easter
And no doubt all the local kids will be gorging themselves sick on chocolate Easter eggs while they look on in bored indifference at the whole spectacle.
ReplyDeletePhil, it takes you to wake me up to something...they don't 'do' easter eggs here.
ReplyDeleteWhat?!! They don’t do chocolate easter eggs at Easter! But that’s the whole point of it surely!?
ReplyDeletePhil..isn't it worrying when the foundations of the world as we know it start to crumble....no Easter eggs indeed!
ReplyDeleteI wish you a happy Sunday, Easter or not. They did not do easter eggs at all where I grew up. I thought it a US phenomenon. Now I learn it is English?
ReplyDeleteI can think of a dozen or so people in Glasgow I would volunteer for the job, I'll even supply the hammer.
ReplyDeletee...Easter eggs are certainly a U.K.phenomenon too....don't know what Cadbury's balance sheet would look like without them....brought up in a 'careful' household, my eggs were of the hard boiled produce of the hen variety...with a dab of paint.
ReplyDeleteJimmy....extend the boundaries and I'll join you...
Good grief. I'm glad you updated your post to clarify that rope would be used rather than nails.
ReplyDeleteAlthough...I'm sort of with Jimmy on this one in being able to suggest suitable candidates for the role.
I can't imagine what kind of person could actually nail another person onto a cross. The thought made my fingers and toes curl up. But then doing it with rope is a bit of a cop-out, don't you think? I mean that's not a REAL crucifixion.;)
ReplyDeleteSo ... I'm curious - did they "do it live?"
ReplyDelete'No one is worthy' - a bit like our politicians I reckon.
ReplyDeleteBeen away for a few weeks but will catch up on old posts over next few days
Yes, don't leave us in suspense!!!xx
ReplyDeleteAyak, yes... a bit like in The Mikado 'I've got a little list'...
ReplyDeletenodamnblog...what people are capable of when convinced they are right and justfied in what they are doing can be horrific.
Valerie...no, thank goodness they did not. But I asked further...nosy devil that I am and there was a period of a few years when it happened under the aegis of a somewhat fanatical priest....now transferred!
Mark, seemed quite a masterstroke to me...did not condemn his predecessor's 'little ways' and kept his flock happy with ropes.
Roz, no! No nails!
I began to think I'd misunderstood...that my grasp of Spanish had led me into error, but no, the sister thought they were using nails all right.
Er. Urm. I agree with you about the priest. Loved your comment over at mine, Fly. That was masterly too!
ReplyDeleteHadriana's Treasures, given the current hoohah here about co habitation (governmental not personal) I reckon the priest is the to go to man!
ReplyDeleteI felt a little lightheaded for a moment. Glad it was only ropes. I was in San Jose for a week in Aug. of '06. Fell in love with the country and thought about relocating, but ended up in Oregon, which is almost as good. :)
ReplyDelete