The re-enactment of the Passion through the streets of Ayacucho…
The morning began for us at the Templo de San Francisco de Asis, the Church of St. Francis of Assisi, just through the Arch of Victory and opposite the entrance to the Indian Market.
When we arrived the only sign of activity were three men dressed as Roman soldiers together with their horses. As usual there were many and varied versions of the starting time and where the re-enactment would proceed to; so we tried the usual method of wait and see.
We did not have wait too long as we soon noticed that the crowd was being surrounded by many people dressed according to the dress of the time of Jesus.
Then ‘Jesus’ appeared on the steps of the market and spoke to the crowd, however, he was quickly betrayed by Judas and led across the street to the Church yard to be condemned by the High Priests and Pilate.
The acting was extremely real, and dramatic.
The crowd then led Jesus away through the streets to the main Plaza where the real action began.
He was dragged once again before Pilate who offered the people the choice between Jesus and Barabbas, after they chose the latter he washed his hands of the responsibility of Jesus and handed him over to be flogged and crucified.
I can assure you a very dramatic flogging took place and continued throughout the morning! Also a very real crown of thorns appeared and was placed on his head. The local people seem to cope with the blood and violence because it was all there for all to see, even the young children. They also get quite involved by yelling their comments as the procession passed by.
Jesus and the two thieves were then paraded around the Plaza and surrounding streets.
We discovered at that stage that there was still about three hours of re-enactment to go and that the final stage, the crucifixion, would take place way up at the Mirador at around 3.00 p.m. We made a quick decision to have a rest and take a taxi to the Mirador to witness the last scene. However, when we reached the Mirador not a soul knew anything about a re-enactment! We still do not know where it took place but you can be certain it did.
The construction of the Easter morning Ander…
We had heard that the Ander bearing the figure of ‘Christ Risen’ was big, however, we had no idea that it will be as big as what we have been watching develop over the past two days.
In the first instance it will be supported by four massive logs almost equivalent to tree trunks. I estimated their lengths to be at least fifteen meters. As for how high the Ander will be, well I am just over two meters so you can estimate the height yourself.
As for the height and width we can verify that we watched the men diligently measure both in relation to the front door of the Cathedral and the front gates leading to the Plaza – and it fits!
As time moved on more and more logs, large and small, were roped to the structure.
Just before it was lifted into the Cathedral they were attaching wooden decorations, they looked like tree branches but were really intertwined thin pieces of branch painted white.
The final Ander of Semana Santa appears in the Plaza on Easter Sunday morning after the 4.00 a.m. Mass, yes 4.00 a.m.!
Apparently it will be borne by over 120 men and having witnessed the work being done during construction you can understand why they need so many helpers.
Good Friday evening and the Procession of the Holy Sepulchre followed by the Mother of Sorrows…
Once again the floral carpet producers were in full swing for the evening procession from the Church of St. Dominic.
This is the procession where a statue of the body of the Christus is carried around the Plaza in a glass sepulchre, it is closely followed by a statue of Mary, the Mother of Sorrows.
We made sure that we arrived early and found a seat on the steps of the footpath, with a colonnade pillar at our backs! Although we had to wait for over an hour it was well worth the experience.
Two initial things will remain in my mind, firstly all the main lights in the Plaza were switched off and only a few lights from the surrounding buildings and thousands of candles lit the area. Secondly, in the distance we could hear the slow beat of the muffled bass drum as it marked time for the Ander bearers. The general atmosphere in the Plaza was much more subdued than the previous processions; there was not the same ‘carnival or tourist’ atmosphere last night.
We could see the Ander approaching the Plaza as it slowly progressed along the street from the Church of St. Dominic.
I found the whole atmosphere totally surreal; it was exactly like you were at a funeral and watching the coffin being carried past, an unbelievable feeling. You wanted to stop taking photos and just take in what was happening.
Before you knew what was happening the beat of another drum was heard in the distance and we could see a second Ander approaching, the Mother of Sorrows.
The mother following her dead son around the Plaza, it seemed so real no matter what you believe. Another memory for us that will last for a long time.
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