The cleaners move in immediately.

The procession was hardly finished when the cleaners attacked the Plaza. The street sweepers moved along in lines sweeping all the rubbish before them while some other people were waiting to load the rubbish truck.


The people involved in the fireworks display obviously had the job of making sure that none of their bamboo structures, or what is left of them, are left lying around on the footpaths.


They even have the task of dismantling the huge bamboo tower which was used for Saturday night’s display.
Amazingly, within an hour or two the Plaza will be ready for the next parade.

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.

Semana Santa…Easter Saturday, a very different Plaza de Armas this morning.

A vastly different crowd from last night invaded the Plaza this morning for fun and games.


Easter Saturday is the running of the bulls Saturday in Ayacucho and virtually the entire city wears something red and if you didn’t already have something you did not have to go far for a red purchase.




People sang and danced their way to the starting point of the run way up one of the main streets of Ayacucho. Those who chose not to walk the four or five blocks lined the street and waited for the fun.



Before they started to run the bulls wave after wave of caballeros sitting bolt upright in the saddle pranced their horses down the street, the horses have a totally distinctive and proud trotting style.



When the cry of ‘toro’ went up most people sought shelter in the local shop fronts, but not too many of the youth who were present. Although the bulls were tethered by rope to the horse rider they still displayed a mind of their own, especially when they were being goaded by the young people running alongside waving anything they could get their hands on. A few even tried to slap the bulls on the rump. There was some consolation in the fact that only one bull raced down the street at a time and that they were under a certain amount of control.
Where were Marion and I stationed while this activity was in progress? In any danger, not likely…the following photos answer that question…


By the time we arrived in the Plaza things were getting a little rowdy due to the fact that there seemed to be little control of both beer sales and the fact that you could drink in the streets.
The local Bomberos, fire brigade, had a fairly good answer when it came to crowd control!

Semana Santa…Good Friday.

Three different commentaries and/or reflections concerning our Good Friday in Ayacucho.

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.