Semana Santa…very early Easter Sunday morning.

Up at 3.10 a.m., dressed and off to the Plaza by 3.45 a.m. for the first Easter Mass in the Cathedral. The Plaza was still packed from the night’s celebrations and I would suggest that some were going to be seriously unwell later in the day. Some looked as though they were that way already!

The Cathedral doors were not open when we arrived so we waited with everyone else till the opening time and as it turned out it was not a wise move because when the doors were opened the crush forward was quite frightening. You had absolutely no choice but to be pushed forward through the doors, down the steps and into the building. It has been a long time since I have seen so many wanting to get into church for Mass!
Marion managed to find not only a space near the front but also two chairs from the ancient pulpit! So at least we both sat throughout the Mass. And thank heavens for that because the Auxiliary Bishop well and truly grabbed his chance and spoke for what I would call an extended period of time!


Straight after Communion we headed for the doors to try and be outside to see the Ander coming out of the Cathedral. On the way out I did manage to take a few photos of the massive Ander. Another problem, everyone else wanted to do the same and be outside, and to add to an already serious situation the crowd outside were not going to give up their vantage points. The crush then turned very, very dangerous and once again I was amazed that nobody got hurt, or I hope nobody got hurt! It is very scary when you have no say over where you are going or how you are getting there.


We did manage to see the Ander emerge from the Cathedral amid shouting, clapping and stunning fireworks. The figure of the Risen Christ is very cleverly lowered into the Ander before negotiating the front door and on emerging it rises again amid more enthusiastic cheering and clapping.



The procession moved around the Plaza pausing every now and then to give the bearers a rest and also allow even more pyrotechnics to be detonated by some very keen young men. The closer you got to the structure you realised just how massive it really is and the reason it takes so many to carry it on their shoulders. Another thing that dawned on us was the fact that there were just as many men inside the structure bearing its weight as there were outside.


After the Ander arrived back at the front doors of the Cathedral the Auxiliary Bishop of Huamanga spoke once again to the assembled crowd, at length.