Easter

Later that week, being “semana santa,” I went to a parade/presentation in the streets w/ Margarita, my host mom. Semana Santa ("Holy Week") is one of the biggest Mexican holidays, especially in highly Catholic areas, and Guanajuato, I've heard, is in the top most most Catholic cities. In fact, many schools, including mine, get two weeks off for, what we call in the US, spring break. Apparently, one of the main churches here had had a violent crucifixion the day before, but this parade with the "lifeless body" of Jesus was weird and eerie. There were young kids who sang, their were soldiers, women in black mourning, dummers, trumpet players (very somber, loud music), some men dressed in sack cloth and masks, other men dressed like the KKK in black (though I have no idea what they really represented), and then a lighted up statue of Mary. You can see here that there were SO many people who came to watch. And let me tell you, many Mexicans do not have as large of personal space as many "estadounidenses" (people from the US) do. I thought some of the the crowd was going to puch me over completely at times. We we walked back, it probably took us 3 minutes to walk 20 feet.

The funny part was how they had the extension cord of electricity carried behind them! It was also strangely cold that night, too. Margarita’s sister, Erica, who’s the host mom of Holly, met with up to go, too.

Easter Sunday, I was walking to church, and when I’d almost arrived (after stopping about 5 times or more on the way to blow my super stuffy nose), I car pulled up beside me. It scarred me at first b’c it had been driving close for a while. The couple inside asked me if I was going to church (which I affirmed), and if it was Christian (which I also affirmed), and then I invited them to come with me. It was fun sharing their story with everyone at church. The couple is from Leon and have family here, but their family is all catholic.

The pictures are of Isabel (yellow-green shirt), her mother Eva holding her granddaughter (Isabel's daughter), and the rest of the congregation in the gazebo in the park where we worship Sundays. Eva hosts our Thursday Bible study in her house.

Pepe and the gang lead worship in the other pic.