The Semana Santa poster said the Viernes Santo (Good Friday) Procesión del Silencio was to begin at 6 PM in front of Preciosa Sangre de Cristo. Knowing the drill, I arrived at 4:45 to take photos as contingents and participants arrived — but nobody was there. The old antiwar slogan, “What If They Gave a War and Nobody Came” came to mind.
Of course it was going to happen, it’s just that time isn’t what it seems here. Word on the scene had it that, despite the poster info, it wasn’t to begin until 6:30 PM. No worries! Well, except that Mexico doesn’t begin Daylight Saving Time until next weekend, the light began rapidly fading, and 6:30 PM became 7 PM. Por favor, let Oaxaca’s 27th annual Parade of Silence begin!
And it eventually did — up Macedonio Alcalá, left at the Cruz de Piedra, left again on García Vigil to Independencia, another left, and back up the Alcalá. And so, in darkness and silence the procession returned to the church where it all began. Contingents could be heard late into the night parading through the streets of the city, as they returned the Jesuses and Marías to their respective home churches.
Lots more photos can be seen over at Oaxaca-The Year After.
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Very nice photos. After reading the first section about waiting for the procession to begin, and then looking down through the pictures, it appeared you were not the only one with that sentiment.
Waiting seems to be a way of life here and people are so patient. I’m learning… was in line at the bank for 55 min. on Monday and practiced my “standing in line” meditation. 😉
And yet another color for the capirotes -yellow ! Wonder if the color signifies something ( level of penance, perhaps ?
I think the color “points” to which cofradía the penitent belongs to. By the way, this year there seemed to be more women carrying the statues.
Oh, Spixl ~~ this is a wonderful post & your photos are fabulous.
I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but a friend & I, both logically suspicious of posted times, scrutinized the posters on all the churches so figured out that the scheduled time must be 6:30.
Do you have any idea who the mystery statue is? He’s in your first picture, third row, plus several others. He has no halo & is the only other person represented besides Jesus and the Virgin.
We glommed on to some of the same things, but you captured some things I never even saw — the yellow hoods, for instance.
Really enjoyed seeing this. Here’s my report, if you’re interested:
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=mexico&thread=6482&page=1
Great report and photos, Dot! I actually have some pics from early in the day of 3 young people beginning work on the litter (or, whatever it is called) at San Felipe Neri. The mystery statue is San Pedro; gotta say, he was very photogenic against the black night.
Thank you!
St. Peter, huh? I wonder why. The main thing I remember about St. Peter from the Passion story is Christ telling him, “You will deny me thrice before the cock crows”. And so it came to pass. Perhaps I need to brush up on this stuff.
I never got such a nice crisp photo of him as you did. (& wouldn’t recognize him anyway w/out his trademark keys._
And, in the better-luck-next-year department, today I actually figured out the time problem. I was walking down the street & passed a Semana Santa poster from Carmen Alto announcing that the Mass and procession would be at 4:30. The little lightbulb went on over my head as I remembered that Sn Felipe Neri’s was at 5:30. All of the churches participating need to have starting times earlier than Sangre de Cristo, to give them time to do their circuits before joining up with the big procession on Alcalá.
For “Pete’s” sake! Thanks for clearing up the time discrepancies. And, I’ve got to admit to being completely clueless when it comes to the lives of the saints.