Easter in Guatemala

For a Christian, Easter in Guatemala can be a strange experience.The cultural history of the country is stringly marked by Catholicism so in every town, the Catholic church organises a number of events throughout Semana Santa (Holy week) - usually this includes processions through the streets of large 'floats' depicting various stages of the Easter story. These floats are carried by different fraternities at different stages of the procession. They can be enormous and heavy and require up to 100 people to carry it. The procession take a long time to wind their way through the town, stopping in various places for bible readings and prayers. All along the route of the procession, local residents will have created decorative 'carpets' on the road - made out of coloured sawdust and fruits and flowers. Neighbours club together to create these and can spend hours creating them before the procession comes along and walks over it.  here´s a few pictures of the procession that I saw in San Pedro La Laguna.

Some people find the processions a very moving experience; a very visual reminder of Jesus´ work on the cross. On the other hand, it has become for many, a cultural shared experience rather than en expression of faith. In Antigua, there are so many churches and so many processions, that for the vast majority of the participants, it´s their only contact with the church.

Protestant Christians in Guatemala stay away from the processions, and view them as an expression of the  idolatry of the Catholic church. But the propensity of the protestant church in Guatemala to reject everything that the Catholics do, means that many protestant churches don´t even mention Easter, to avoid any possible confusion with the Catholic celebrations.

Others take advantage of the season to put on evangelistic events. This year I went to the Via Dolorosa performance at the Mega Frater church (a church of about 8000 members). It´s a very professional theatrical performance of an overview of Jesus´s life and the Easter story, and they repeat the performance several times over the course of Easter week, usually to a full house in the 12,000 seater auditorium. I was quite impressed by the performance and felt very moved by Jesus´ interaction with people.

However they seemed to make more of a specticle out of Judas hanging himself, than they did of the crucifixion of Jesus! The resurrection and the assencion seemed to merge into one as well. But overall I found it a good way to be reminded of Jesus´ death and resurrection - and reflect on it´s impact on my life.