Day 68: Semana Santa

So, we have a whole week off between Paul Sunday until Easter Sunday because Hondureñas are very good Catholics and use this time to mediatate on God. Ok, that last little bit might be a little farce, but we do in fact have a whole week free from school which was utterly exciting. The greatest part of this time though is getting to be part of the communities traditions.

On Good Friday in cities all over Honduras the faithful Catholics get up early in the day on Good Friday to create rugs through the main streets of town. Sully and I walked downtown early and got to see them hard at work. They use bits of colored sawdust and stencils to create realy intricate designs over the ENTIRE street. It takes a long time and is a lot of hard work that the people in the parade just walk on. It stems from people wanting The Lord (a Jesus crucifixion statue) to have something nice to walk on, so they cover the streets in a "rug" or the only thing that was abundant at the time... sawdust.

So, it was really cool to see this and to see the processional parade, but it was also really cool to hear the old "urban legends." The older generation would literally spend all day on Good Friday doing nothing. A lot of people now flock to the beaches and the rivers, but "the old ones" believed that if you swam on Good Friday that you would turn into a fish out of punishment.

Good Friday is an incredibly respected holiday here. No one does anything. No school. No buses run. No stores are open. They all believe that it´s incredibly dishonorable to do anythign on the day that Jesus died.

So... it was basically a really cool cultural experience... one that kind of straved me because nothing was open to eat.