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Jesus Christ in Mexico City

12:19 H | Topics: Mexico - Religion

Everyone knows that Semana Santa -- Holy Week, celebrated this week -- is a holiday that is commemorated with some very unique practices throughout the Spanish-speaking world (or wherever Spaniards have treaded; the Philippines actually has one of the most shocking displays of self-flagellation in honor of Semana Santa in the world).

We've all seen imagery of the Via Crucis, but have you ever seen J.C. up close and personal, hanging on a cross in a working class neighborhood? The people of Mexico City have, as each year the Iztapalapa neighborhood puts on a spectacle to rival any other. The excellent Mexico City blog Chilanga Banda has a post to bring the unfamiliar up to speed:

The representation of the Passion of Christ has been done in Iztapalapa for over a century and a half to fulfill a promise made by the inhabitants of the area to el Señor de la Cuevita, as a gesture of gratitude for having erradicated a deadly cholera that struck the population in 1833.

Entire families participate in this colossal act, children of just two years of age already carry their cross, riding on horses next to their fathers; young people, adults and the elerly dress in "virgin" clothing as "penitentes", as Roman soldiers, etc.

This year the representation turns 160 years old, and its origin dates back to the theatre that religious missionaries in Latin America did to facilitate the evangelization of the indigenous population.

Having been privy to this act once, I can describe it only as highly surreal. Iztapalapa is a surreal place in an of itself, but to see it transformed from hard knocks hood to something out of a religious history book, blood and gore and all, is almost too much for the brain to handle. Very Luis Buñuel.

Crónica reports that as an added bonus to visitors this year, the Jesus Christ of Iztapalapa will also come back to life for the first time in 163 years.

For another gory Semana Santa procession, I recommend the one in Taxco, (Guerrero, MX). This is the first one I ever saw and it left me profoundly traumatized.

Or why not go further afield, and straight to the source of all of this: Sevilla, Spain. Sevilla boasts the most elaborate and most famous Semana Santa in the world.

Via / Chilanga Banda and Crónica

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