Holy Week is a celebration of great importance and one of the most important religious traditions in Mexico, with which we commemorate the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It covers two weeks of religious celebrations, parties, and holidays. The Holy Week or Semana Mayor celebrations for many Catholics in Mexico begin exactly 40 days before Palm Sunday, with Ash Wednesday. On this day, the faithful approach the churches to receive the sign of the cross on their foreheads with the ash that has been collected from Palm Sunday of Holy Week the previous year.
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a 40-day period of recollection and abstinence that culminates in the Greater Week; Lent reminds us of the 40-day period that Jesus spent in the desert.
Traditionally, the celebration begins with Palm Sunday, which is related to the entrance of Jesus of Nazareth to the city of Jerusalem, where the people received him with songs and psalms.
On Holy Thursday, we remember the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples, a scene immortalized by Leonardo da Vinci in his mural ” The Last Supper ” made by Leonardo in Milan in 1498.
On this day there is also the tour of the 7 houses, which consists of visiting seven churches, where the faithful pray to accompany Christ during his crucifixion. The tour takes place on Holy Thursday night. According to Catholic tradition, these ceremonial visits seek to create an atmosphere of prayer and meditation on the life and work of Jesus.
On Good Friday, the Passion of Christ is remembered and is commemorated with the Stations of the Cross, which in Latin means the way of the cross and the ceremony of the Adoration of the Cross. This way of the Cross is represented with a series of fourteen images of the Passion, also known as stations, which correspond to events that the Catholic tradition tells us, Jesus suffered for the salvation of humanity.
In the state of Querétaro on Good Friday, there is a great procession in the streets of the historic center, it is a great event in which groups of religionists visit the Temple of the Cross. Also on this day is the representation of The Three Falls, which dramatizes the journey that Jesus made before being crucified.
The Saturday of Glory or Holy Saturday is the day that elapses between the death and the resurrection of Jesus; so for many Christians, it represents a moment of reflection, mourning, and sadness.
Resurrection Sunday is the day considered the most important because it commemorates the return of Jesus Christ on the third day after being crucified and is perceived as an opportunity for salvation. For the faithful, the Resurrection is an indispensable element, since, by itself, the origin of the word ‘Easter’ is ‘passage’, which is why it is considered as the passage of Jesus Christ from death to eternal life. The date is also the end of the period of Holy Week, in addition to inaugurating a 50-day liturgical period known as Easter Time and ending with Pentecost Sunday. In which the church celebrates the feast of the Ascension, which commemorates the arrival to heaven of Jesus in the presence of his disciples.
At The Yucatán Times, we invite you to learn more about our traditions and how they bring us closer to our families and friends, but above all, they show us how the most important is shared with those you love the most.
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