Lecture & Book Signing Tears from the Crown of Thorns Charlotte Bell Thu, Apr 2, 1:30 & 4:30pm Mon, Apr 6, 1:30 & 4:30pm Posada de San Francisco Plaza Principal 2 80 pesos

Guide to Semana Santa
By Charlotte Bell

For several years, Easter bunnies have been sighted attempting to cross illegally into Mexico from the US. Strong Mexican traditions have been arresting them and holding them in detention centers at border towns. The bunnies have been caught spreading subversive colored eggs and candies among these communities and threatening to invade the heart of Mexico. Gracias a Dios, San Miguel is Easter-bunny free, due to the strong religious traditions that have counteracted this pagan abomination with ceremony and acts of faith. 

What does occur in Mexico at this time is Semana Santa (Holy Week), which is celebrated everywhere in the country, with each town and village expressing its special and unique traditions. San Miguel is noted through all of Mexico as having some of the most beautiful processions and ceremonies.

For those new to town, this can be a daunting experience, since the number of events is staggering. Posters with lists and times are placed outside of churches, but just looking at a list, in Spanish, does little to help the tourist decide which to attend.

My book about Semana Santa in San Miguel, Tears from the Crown of Thorns, is a guide to the necessary information. A lecture with maps, timetables and accompanying slide show will give the details and imagery for making an informed decision about which events to see. You also will come away from the lecture with a part of the fascinating story of San Miguel’s past.

Four lectures are scheduled in the Posada de San Francisco on the northwest corner of the Jardín across from Starbucks. The Monday lecture at 4:30pm will be in Spanish and English. You will leave with a handout containing maps and timetables, as well as a new understanding of Semana Santa in San Miguel. Part of the proceeds will be donated to Patronato Pro Niños, an organization providing health and dental care to children in rural communities.

Tickets are on sale at Galería Ra Luz in the Posada de San Francisco or at the door.



Charlotte Bell is a photographer and author of Tears from the Crown of Thorns, a book about Semana Santa in San Miguel.

Lecture
Easter in San Miguel
Arturo Morales Tirado
Tue, Mar 31, 1:30pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Publica
Insurgentes 25 
60 pesos 

Easter: A fusion of cultural traditions
By Arturo Morales Tirado

Easter in Mexico encompasses both Semana Santa (Holy Week: Palm Sunday to Easter Saturday) which celebrates the last days of Christ’s life, and Pascua (Resurrection Sunday until the following Saturday) which celebrates Christ’s Resurrection.

Easter celebrations fuse Christian rituals and native Indian traditions. As part of their effort to convert Indians, Christian missionaries allowed indigenous people to blend their customs with Easter rites and many of these customs appear in passion plays. The celebrations tend to have a common element in the traditional dances of each town, performed wearing ceremonial masks.

In San Miguel and Guanajuato, the Friday of Dolores (the fifth Friday of Lent) represents the beginning of the Easter ritual in the region.

The celebration of Easter is a week prior to the Jewish Passover, a tradition celebrated in the first full moon of spring. Therefore, both the Sábado de Gloria (Holy Saturday) and the beginning of Passover commemorate the light of the full moon.

At the same time, Easter celebrations represent the syncretism, hidden in the Mesoamerican indigenous tradition, which commemorates the beginning of the fertile season of the year in the early days of the spring equinox.

These culturally mixed traditions have remained alive and can be appreciated in the decoration of public fountains in San Miguel and in the erection of altars to the Virgen de los Dolores. (In the Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary has seven premonitions of the painful moments her son Jesus will have to endure in order to free mankind from sin.)

The feast of Palm Sunday is a ritual that takes place before Holy Friday and which commemorates the final hours of Jesus as a man. There is also the burning of a Judas on Easter Sunday resurrection, the Lord of Health in La Cieneguita and other traditions that frame these solemn days of early spring in San Miguel and the region.