Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Costa Rica is the most celebrated week of the year.  Because of the strong Catholic influence, there are celebrations throughout the week of all of the "events" leading up to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  They have what are called procesiones (processionals) throughout the streets of each city where they act out each "event" of the week. Hundreds of people process through the streets (all roads are closed off), many dressed like Roman soldiers, Mary Magdalene, different saints, etc and they carry a statue of Jesus representing whatever event they are celebrating.  Because we live in the city right next to a large Catholic church we were able to witness the procesiones of Jesus carrying His cross, the crucifixion and burial of Jesus.  We also visited Cartago where the Basilica is located.  The Basilica is the largest Catholic church in Costa Rica and is the "symbol" of Catholicism for the country.  People crawl on their knees for miles to the Basilica all the way to the alter where they confess their sins before the alter and the statue of Mary.  There is also a pool of "holy water" on the property and people were bringing milk jugs to fill up with this water to take home so that it will last them all year.  (Many Costa Ricans visit this church once a year during holy week.)  Many were pouring the "holy water" over their children or dogs, believing that they will be blessed if they touch this water. 

Experiencing this week gave us even more of an understanding of the people that we are ministering to.  Please pray for those who have yet to experience the freedom in Christ that He so freely gives!!!          (Here are a few pictures below of La Basilica and the procesiones)    
                           

2 comments:

Mari said...

Wow..I knew some of the pratices and traditions that the Catholics hung on to but I was unaware of the crawling.
I miss you guys and will continue to pray!
Love you,
Mari

step885 said...

Very interesting! thanks for sharing! SC