“Holy Week” is a predominantly Catholic and Christian festivity, introduced to Ecuador by the Spanish conquerors under the strong influence of the Catholic clerics. Holy Week is a moveable feast, varying from year to year but always six weeks after Carnival and celebrates the Biblical episode in which Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert, while frequently being tempted by the Devil. Beginning with Palm Sunday, which recalls the entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem decked with palms and olive leaves while masses of followers hailed and praised his Glory, Holy Week ends the following Sunday, Easter Sunday, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion and death. This celebration is a pageant of symbols and rituals related to the biblical stories about that decisive week in the life of Jesus, when, after his triumphant arrival in Jerusalem and hailed as the Son of God, he was persecuted by the Romans, betrayed by one of his own disciples, and then judged and condemned to death on the Cross. Within a few days, Jesus had been converted from the human embodiment of God to a villain condemned to a gruesome death. During that same week, Jesus initiated the Holy Eucharist during his last supper with his apostles. After his martyrdom and death on Passion Friday and a somber silence during Saturday, on Sunday a number of Jesus’ disciples visited the tomb where he had been buried, only to find that the heavy stone sealing the entrance had been removed and the tomb empty. Shortly afterwards, while puzzling over what could have happened, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalena and asked her to tell the disciples that, fulfilling the biblical prophecies, he had been resurrected and was about to join His Father in Heaven. This is Easter Sunday.
Holy Week is celebrated between February and March, with its exact date determined by the phases of moon. Holy Friday (also known as Good Friday or Passion Friday), must always coincide with a period of full moon. The Carnival fiestas are held 40 days earlier.
Holy Week is celebrated in a variety of ways throughout predominantly Catholic Ecuador. Most events take place in religious temples but large outpourings of popular faith are manifested in events such as the processions, described below. The best venues to witness these events are the cities of Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, though various popular theatrical representations are held in several smaller cities and towns in the country’s regions, recalling the biblical episodes of that special week.
FOOD
- Fanesca: Fanesca is an Ecuadorian soup is eaten during Easter, is prepared with cod, pumpkin, squash, beans, doddering, corn, peas, beans or beans, rice, onion, garlic, cumin, achiote, peanuts, milk, cream and cheese. Fanesca is accompanied with sliced boiled egg, fried plantains, tanning pearl onions, cheese and pies wind.
- Wind Empanadas: pasties stuffed with cottage cheese Ecuadorian and onion, then fried and sprinkled with sugar.
- Molo potatoes: potatoes Molo is an Ecuadorian recipe for mashed potatoes are prepared with a rehash of onions, garlic and annatto. Molo served with lettuce, boiled eggs, cheese, avocado, green onions, cilantro or parsley, and pepper.
- Onion and tomato tanning: Tanned sauce tomato onion with lemon juice, salt and cilantro. It is ideal to accompany the molo potatoes.
- Fried plantains: Recipe fried plantains with cheese.
- Humitas: Ecuadorian tamales are prepared tamales or cupcakes with tender corn, onion, garlic, eggs, cheese and cream, cooked wrapped in corn leaves steamed.
- Rice pudding: Rice pudding is a traditional Easter dessert prepared with rice, milk, cinnamon, sugar, raisins and condensed milk.
- Sweet figs: fresh figs or dried figs are cooked in spiced honey brown sugar figs are served accompanied with slices of cheese.
TRADITIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Holy Week starts with
Palm Sunday. On this day, nearly every Ecuadorian city and village holds open
air masses in parks and squares to which the faithful attend carrying
delicately arranged palms in an assortment of shapes and sizes. The priests
emphasize the spiritual values of this week and the importance of remembering
the teachings of Jesus Christ.
In Quito, on Holy Wednesday, the city’s magnificent Metropolitan Cathedral is the venue for a ceremony harking back to ancient times, possibly based on the practices of the earlier Christians. The most senior clerics, dressed in black and adorned in long capes, kneel in front of the Archbishop who moves a giant black flag over their heads. This ritual is a reminder of the imminence of death, while the triumphant flag alludes to the promise of Resurrection. Deeply symbolic, this ritual attracts locals and visitors alike, who observe in awe this ceremony which is now only celebrated in Quito and Seville (Spain) in the entire Christian world.
Throughout the entire week, Quito and a few other cities host religious and classical music concerts performed in and around the splendid colonial temples and their surroundings or inner squares, as well as in other public areas. Several convents and monasteries open their doors to the public and exhibit of some of the treasures of religious art which they preserve inside while various museums extend their opening hours. The religious celebrations also form an important element of the local culture.
On Maundy Thursday, the Catholic temples commemorate the Last Supper, in remembrance of the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples in which he broke bread with each of them, telling them to “take and eat of it, for this is my body”, thus instituting Holy Communion. On this day, the Pope at Saint Peter’s Cathedral as well as bishops in every city cleanse the feet of the very poor and indigent in a gesture of humbleness, another reminder of the preachings of Jesus.
On Holy Friday, when the passion and death of Jesus are recalled, massive processions fill the streets of Quito and Guayaquil, converting the events into immense expressions of popular faith and religiousness. In Quito, the Procession of the statue “Jesus the Great Power”, a much venerated sculpture, is borne from the imposing and historic church and square of San Francisco by the chanting faithful through the city’s colonial center accompanied by acts of faith, prior to returning to San Francisco again.
A highlight of this procession are the “cucuruchos”, whose origins lie in the ancestral rites of southern Spain. Mostly men and of all ages, their purple gowns cover their faces and culminate in foot-high pointed “bonnets”. Only their eyes can be seen. Many walk barefoot, their feet shackled with burdensome chains, while bearing heavy wooden crosses, crowns of thorns and lashing their naked torsos with “ortiga” (stinging nettles). Forming part of the procession are also the “Veronicas”. Dressed as in biblical times, these women represent their predecessors who, according to the biblical description, passed a blood and sweat soaked cloth over Jesus’ face as he made his way to Mount Calvary where he would be crucified.
The procession consists of thousands of the faithful, of all ages and social backgrounds, and is closely followed by admiring local and foreign visitors anxious to catch a glimpse of this unique expression of faith and its very special symbols, accompanied by a backdrop of enthusiastic religious chanting, intoned with great devotion.
After a Saturday of meditation and silence, Easter Sunday sees massive open air masses celebrated with passionate demonstrations of joy for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Quito, Holy Week is traditionally closed on Easter Sunday afternoon, at sunset, with the magnificent and beautifully synchronized “Concert of Bells”. The city’s air resonates to the sound of the giant brass bells of over 50 churches, convents and monasteries in Quito’s Colonial Center, pealing in an authentic concert of joyful sounds, frequently followed by a firework display against the background of the churches, buildings and historic monuments with their spectacularly illuminated facades, towers, balconies and domes.
In Quito, on Holy Wednesday, the city’s magnificent Metropolitan Cathedral is the venue for a ceremony harking back to ancient times, possibly based on the practices of the earlier Christians. The most senior clerics, dressed in black and adorned in long capes, kneel in front of the Archbishop who moves a giant black flag over their heads. This ritual is a reminder of the imminence of death, while the triumphant flag alludes to the promise of Resurrection. Deeply symbolic, this ritual attracts locals and visitors alike, who observe in awe this ceremony which is now only celebrated in Quito and Seville (Spain) in the entire Christian world.
Throughout the entire week, Quito and a few other cities host religious and classical music concerts performed in and around the splendid colonial temples and their surroundings or inner squares, as well as in other public areas. Several convents and monasteries open their doors to the public and exhibit of some of the treasures of religious art which they preserve inside while various museums extend their opening hours. The religious celebrations also form an important element of the local culture.
On Maundy Thursday, the Catholic temples commemorate the Last Supper, in remembrance of the last meal shared by Jesus with his disciples in which he broke bread with each of them, telling them to “take and eat of it, for this is my body”, thus instituting Holy Communion. On this day, the Pope at Saint Peter’s Cathedral as well as bishops in every city cleanse the feet of the very poor and indigent in a gesture of humbleness, another reminder of the preachings of Jesus.
On Holy Friday, when the passion and death of Jesus are recalled, massive processions fill the streets of Quito and Guayaquil, converting the events into immense expressions of popular faith and religiousness. In Quito, the Procession of the statue “Jesus the Great Power”, a much venerated sculpture, is borne from the imposing and historic church and square of San Francisco by the chanting faithful through the city’s colonial center accompanied by acts of faith, prior to returning to San Francisco again.
A highlight of this procession are the “cucuruchos”, whose origins lie in the ancestral rites of southern Spain. Mostly men and of all ages, their purple gowns cover their faces and culminate in foot-high pointed “bonnets”. Only their eyes can be seen. Many walk barefoot, their feet shackled with burdensome chains, while bearing heavy wooden crosses, crowns of thorns and lashing their naked torsos with “ortiga” (stinging nettles). Forming part of the procession are also the “Veronicas”. Dressed as in biblical times, these women represent their predecessors who, according to the biblical description, passed a blood and sweat soaked cloth over Jesus’ face as he made his way to Mount Calvary where he would be crucified.
The procession consists of thousands of the faithful, of all ages and social backgrounds, and is closely followed by admiring local and foreign visitors anxious to catch a glimpse of this unique expression of faith and its very special symbols, accompanied by a backdrop of enthusiastic religious chanting, intoned with great devotion.
After a Saturday of meditation and silence, Easter Sunday sees massive open air masses celebrated with passionate demonstrations of joy for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Quito, Holy Week is traditionally closed on Easter Sunday afternoon, at sunset, with the magnificent and beautifully synchronized “Concert of Bells”. The city’s air resonates to the sound of the giant brass bells of over 50 churches, convents and monasteries in Quito’s Colonial Center, pealing in an authentic concert of joyful sounds, frequently followed by a firework display against the background of the churches, buildings and historic monuments with their spectacularly illuminated facades, towers, balconies and domes.
EASTER IN CHILE
Valparaiso has a wide diversity of traditions at Easter. On Friday the Via Crucis Church The Matrix will be held at 19.00 hours, and the Via Crucis of Cerro Placeres, at 20.30. Both rituals are part of the intangible heritage that has the city. On Sunday, at 19.00 hours, the work Jesus Christ Super Star in the Parque Italia will be displayed, and Saturday, at 21.00, Burning Judas (burning of sins) will be held. In Burning of Judas, the locals themselves put together a doll about four meters representing Judas. Then all they write their sins on paper and deposit them in the body of the doll. To the tune of a carnival and dance alluding to the sins committed by citizens, slowly burning the doll. This public festival represents an old European tradition brought by settlers to the city, which is held every Saturday of Easter. "In addition, all museums will be open to the public during normal hours," adds Mariángel Ruedi, Tourism Development Department of the Municipality of Valparaiso. Last year more than 5,000 people attended. It is expected that this year locals and tourists come to tradition.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario