Semana Santa - Huaraz, 2015 (Part III)

The highpoint of the Semana Santa procession and celebration is the carrying of the statues of the Virgin Mary and of Jesus carrying the cross through the streets, over the alfombras, and back to the Church from which they originated. We share a few photos of this part of the celebration. But first, some interesting spectators.

The ladies wear the hats down here.

Double duty - a big baby on her back and a load of popcorn and nuts to sell.  The man in yellow has an ice cream cone in his hand.  There are many people who sell ice cream everyday.  They load their little wheeled carts at the factory and then push them to town.  We always see several on our way to work.

One way to get a better view of the parade.

Jeans, a colorful hat and shawl and a wheelchair. The wheelchair is not very common here given the uneven streets and narrow sidewalks.  That is not the usual type of hat worn here so she must be from somewhere out of town.

Sunglasses anyone?  Another mobile store.

This is the culmination of the procession and celebration. This "float" (not sure what to call it) has the Virgin Mary and is carried on the shoulders of men and women which you cannot see due to the crowd. You can see the smoke from the incense that is burned in front of the float as it moves along the street. 

The floats are proceeded by brass bands, partially visible here.  Some of the floats were also preceded by groups of children, mostly dressed in white and holding onto the ribbons that are visible behind the band.  You can see traces of the "alfombras" the people are walking on.

Another float with a lady statue, not sure who she represents. Notice the fellow climbing up on the float with a bouquet of flowers to add to the many that were already there. He is doing this while the float is still on the shoulders of the people carrying it.  Apparently it is a privilege to carry the floats and I think this is the one that was carried by women only.  Someone told us that they paid  money for this privilege but not sure about that.  You could tell that they are heavy by the way the "porters" were sweating.

This is the main float. All of the figures are mannequins. Christ is bowed down with the cross on his back and not very visible in this photo. But this gives an idea of the size of the crowd that walks along with the floats.

Unfortunately, I could not get a good picture of Christ. You can see the top of his head by the cross. When the parade starts he is standing but they mechanically lower him as the parade progresses. The other mannequins on the float are very realistic.

A better view of the Roman soldiers and the women on the float.

The fire department, emergency personnel and police bring up the rear of the procession. Check out the lady with the hat in the foreground and another one in the middle of the picture.  The women from the campo (the indiginous ladies) are not completely dressed unless they have a square of that brightly colored cloth wrapped around them.  Sometimes there is nothing in the cloth, but often they carry bags, children, produce, etc. etc.  And when it rains, they cover their shoulders, tie the cloth in front and that is their raincoat. Very versatile piece of cloth--and colorful as well!  They also cover their hats with plastic bags.

This was an interesting experience.  We noticed that most of the people were quite somber, even the children seem pretty quiet.  Apparently the parade continued to one of large churches and then there was to be a service held.  It started to rain as we left to go home so don't know how that all worked out.

This type of experience helps us appreciate the beauty and simplicity of the gospel and how grateful we are for our understanding of the life and mission, and the death and resurrection of our Savior.

Semana Santa - Huaraz, Peru  - (Part II)

All parades have interesting spectators and vendors. Semana Santa in Huaraz was no exception. Here are a few that we noticed.

The balloon lady.

The balloon lady takes a rest.

A different balloon lady.

 

An ice cream vendor making and selling ice cream from the back of his truck. We had a cone and they were very good.  This was about the only time we have seen soft-serve ice cream.

What would a parade be without cotton candy!

A vendor selling popcorn, dried fruits and nuts. Check out the hat on the lady.  These are people sitting on the sidewalk waiting for the parade to start.

Speaking of food, hard boiled quail eggs are a regular item in the downtown area. There is a little gas stove below the pots in which they boil the eggs. They then shell them and keep them in the the bowl with the orange lid, ready to sell. Everyone says they taste like chicken eggs. We plan to try them before we leave.

Food vendors are not the only ones who set up on the sidewalks. These are all selling clothing and woven goods and they are sitting on the sidewalk in front of a large bank in the downtown area.

A closer look.  Many of these things are handmade.  Whenever you see a lady sitting--tending her little cart or juice stand or whatever--she will be knitting.  In fact, most of the time they don't even look at what they are doing.  We have seen them using up to six knitting needles at the same time.

We stopped at the artesan market with this model at the door.  I am debating whether or not I should bring home one of these outfits.

I thought my model was fancier.

For less than a dollar you can have your picture taken with this cool alpaca in the central park/plaza.  Check out the sunglasses.  She has them attached on the sides and just flips them up and down as needed. Not sure what the alpaca thinks about all of this.

Watch for more parade photos in Part III coming soon.

Semana Santa - Huaraz, Peru 2015 - (Part I)
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a big deal in Latin America. There are parades, actually religious processions, starting on Thursday and continuing through Good Friday to Easter Sunday. Part of these processions are the laying of "alfombras" (rugs) on the main streets over which the Good Friday processions pass. We first saw these in Guatemala and were amazed at the skill and work it takes to produce these designs only to have them trodden over by hundreds of marchers and pretty much obliterated.

 

The start of an alfombra. They are mixing coloring into moist sawdust.

Some of the design is laid out in chalk on the street before applying the colored sawdust.

This design depicts Christ carrying the cross.

This little guy appears to be overseeing the job.

"Mom, that guy is taking our picture!"

Here you can see the chalk lines.

Some nice alfombras near the start of the main street. They block off the four lane street through the center of town and lay down these rugs of sawdust. They start early Good Friday morning.

Here is a view up the main street of Huaraz as the alfombras are being prepared. All traffic is blocked off starting early in the morning.

Some alfombras made with flower petals and green leaves.

A closer look at the alfombra with flower petals and green leaves.

Lots of different colored sawdust being mixed up.

Lots of detail in this one.

These alfombras are assembled by volunteers from various organizations and Catholic Church groups. These are mostly youth laying this one out.

Another view further up the street. The lettering "RENOVACION ANCASHINA" is Ancash Renovation. Ancash is the region we live in, about the equivalent of a U.S. state. Probably produced by a government office.

"Nap time" This alfombra was built by San Pedro University.

More photos in the next blog posting.