THE HOLY WEEK IN SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES

The Holy Week is the anual christian commemoration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. This is why it is a very heightened religious activity period. It begins with Palm Sunday (The entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem) and ends with Easter Sunday (on this day the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is celebrated and for this reason the Christian Religion adquires sense). The date for the Holy Week celebration is variable (between March and April) because it depends on  the lunar calendar. The Holy Week is preceded by Lent (40 days after Ash Wednesday, where we remember “Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust”). The most important days of this festivity are Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday (or Black Saturday), and Easter Sunday, when we remember the Crucifixion, the Paschal Vigil and Resurrection. During this week, you can see in the streets different religious demonstrations where they stand out: the Via Crucis and Passion of Christ, and Processions.

EATING: CUSTOMS OF THE HOLY WEEK

To commemorate the Major Week (anothername for the Holy Week), every country changes its usual diet for the established by religión beiefs, focusing in a very austere type of food, specially on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, where christians tend to practice fasting (it means eating only once in a day) or abstain from certain foods like red meats (ox, beef, pork, lamb, or goat or any cold meat). For that matter, family basket is full of many types of fish and seafood, vegetables and fruit.

 For this celebration food like Garlic Soup, the Vigil Stew (in Spain), Fanesca (A casserole meal with many ingredients) (in Ecuador) and Dry Fish bread soup (in Honduras), are the most craved. Amongst breads and buns we have chipa (in Paraguay), cassava fritters and coconut rice (in Venezuela) and Easter doughnut (in Argentina). Latin America is privileged for its various climates, and the fruits are perfect for this celebration: pear and chayote marmalades (in Chile), Torrejas with Honey (in El Salvador), Salad Water (with fruits and lettuce) and lettuce in sugar wáter (in Mexico). The desserts for this occasion are rice pudding, sweetened figs and sweet homemade bread (in Costa Rica), and the sweet beans (in Dominican Republic). Although as central figures of this event we have: El Chupe (a kind of a soup) of Good Friday (in Peru), Salt dry fish with coconut rice with raisins (in Colombia) 

BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS DURING THE HOLY WEEK

FASTING: People who are used to fasting for this time, according to the canonical code must be between 18 and 59 years old. Those who do not classify, must practice red meat abstinence.

SEXUAL RELATIONS: Although Catholic Church hasn´t forbidden them for the Holy Week, tradition teaches us  that sexual contact is dangerous because you may fall in the risk of “Sticking together. This is a conviction that comes from partens, grandparents and so on. It is thought that this belief goes back to the Middle Ages, where sexual intercourse for pleasure was considered a sin.

RED COLOR:  It is of importance not wear red clothes. Satan is represented in red. It is better to wear black clothes because it makes reference to grief.

CUTTING YOUR HAIR: its is said that if you cut your hair on Good Friday you may get a very healthy and beautiful hair.

YOU SHOULD NOT GO OUT AFTER 3PM: There´s a belief that going out after 3pm on Good Friday is unadvisably, (3pm is the hour Christ Died)  because it always rains very strongly and anything can happen.

NOBODY GETS MARRIED ON A GOOD FRIDAY: It’s God Son´s death, so it is bad luck.

DO NOT BATHE IN RIVERS: Because you might turn into a fish. This myth comes from small towns in Northern Colombia. For some you mustn´t even take a shower on Good Friday.

DO NOT TOUCH A WOMAN: It is a common thing for the country people, to not touch, Kiss, caress, etc  a woman, because “Great illnesses or men sexual impotence may occur”. 

DO NOT CLIMB A TREE: In some Central American countries, the Elder forbid their grandchildren any type of game during the Holy Week. They might not climb a tree for they can turn into monkeys.

TO BORN IN A GOOD FRIDAY : It is considered bad luck. This belief appeared in the 21st century after Pope Jean Paul’s death. It was said that the new pope would have a dark soul and under his command, the anti Christ would be born. According to urban legends, theAnti Christ would be born on a Good Friday, Jesus’s Crucifixion Day; for this reason many people pray for their children not to be born on this day.

SOME PROVERBS RELATED TO THE HOLY WEEK

SEEING IS BELIEVING: When the apostles told Saint Thomas that Jesus would come back from the death he didn’t believe. When Jesus of Nazareth was ressurrected, according to The Bible, He went to meet his apostles and rebuked his skeptical follower because he needed to see and touch his wounds to believe.

MEANING: Give only credibility to those facts we have witnessed and not through gossip or what others say. And be skeptical when someone ensures something we don’t know about. 

I WASH MY HANDS: Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judes, disregarded the popular decisión to crucify Jesus. By the Passover, the authority had given the crowd the chance to save one of those condemned to die, and the people chose Barabbas instead of Jesus, the "king of the Jews."

MEANING: the act of shying away from a given responsibility.  

JUDAS´S KISS: If you call someone Judas (whose name isn´t Judas, of course), you are meaning  this person is a traitor. What apostle Judas Iscariot did to Jesus of Nazareth, is a symbol of disloyalty, then and now. According to the Gospels, this apostle told his crew where was his master for 30 talents of silver, so He was captured and crucified.

MEANING: To make a gesture, apparently loving or friendly disguising treason or lie.

CRYING AS A MAGDALENE: This expression addresses to Mary Magdalene, one of the women who accompanied Jesus everywhere and cried heartbroken when Jesus was executed.

MEANING: It alludes to crying a lot or very often .

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Written by Adriana Martinez