I feel like I got to experience a whole other world this weekend. My roommates invited me to come to their home town, Loja to celebrate Semana Santa (holy week) with their friends and families. Each day and night there are these processions that take place in the street. They carry around these different statues of Jesus and Mary. There are some of Jesus carrying the cross, hanging on the cross, in a glass tomb, and one of Mary on a throne crying. These statues are huge and decorated so extravagatly with gold, candles, roses, ect. People are dressed in these robes with pointy hats follow behind spreading incense (Noemi said they believe the incense cleanses the soul... im like wait... then why are they making a big deal about Jesus if they don't believe he is the one cleansing our souls?) There are like 25 men carrying these massive statues on their shoulders and at certain points they would run up some of the steep incline streets with them and people would clap.
The most memorable night was Thursday when they trun off all the lights in the city and it was silent except for the procession of all these people dressed in black beating drums simultaneously and every now and then they would have some one singing something that sounded like they were mourning or crying. Then they light the way for the statue of Jesus on the cross and all the drummers bow in this circle area outside the church.
The highlights of the weekend: meeting all my roommates friends and talking with them, expecially about Semana Santa and probing into the significance behind it, if it is just tradition or something that is real and true to their lives and learning another culture's view on Jesus.
Strangest thing I saw: posters of Jesus on the cross in all the bars where the even the people in the processions were all drinking. I told them you would never see these kind of posters in a bar in the U.S.
Most un-American thing I did: eating lunch with about 20 of their friends from 2:30 til 6:30... we ate slow and enjoyed each other, it was fun.
Favorite moment: when I was talking about how one of the goals of my life is to make friends in every country and Noemi said, "molly, tu ya tienes muchos aqui." (molly, you already have many here.)
Funniest moment: One of her friends was asking me what we do for Semana Santa and I was telling her about a tradition at my church Forest Hill. I was trying to explain it in Spanish and I said, "On Thursday evening there is a service where we take a nail and nail it to the cross, representing that Jesus was dying for our sins." She looked at me kind of funny and was like, "you nail your "pescados" to the cross?" and I said "yeah pescados... you know bad things people do" and she said "ooohhhh pecados". I originially said "we nail our "fishes" to the cross." hahhahahahahha
Most random thing that happend: I was on Spain TV! hahaha and people told me later they saw me on the news.
4 comments:
HaHaHaHa. That was my favorite blog yet. What a great experience. I got out some of my old church history books to read up on Spain and how they have become the way they are church-wise. I can share more when we talk.
Anyway, missed you alot over Easter with Amy and John being here. We woke up to a tent being built over our kitchen area. Apparently John and Amy had a brainstorm last night and decided to build a tent,kind of like the one's you use to build in the basement of our house in KC. The only thing different is that they are 18 and 21 years old. Hahahaha.
love you,
Dad
Excellent! Congrats on being Spain's newest up-and-coming tv star!
Looks like a pretty spooky ceremony going on...KKK meets the executioner guy meets the grim reeper. But, hey, to each his own right! That's great, though, that you are getting to spend some real quality time with your roommates. Very special and very purposeful! God is working, chica!
Uh, my eyes just got watery when I read that she said you already have many friends here. You are irresistable, Molls. I'm glad I am one of your friends in the US!!
And of COURSE you were on Spainish TV. Why does nothing about that surprises me?
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