Taking Religion To the Streets- Ice Cream and Holy Week Cholula Mexico

 

 

During Holy Week the religious art and celebration don't stay inside the churches. Cholula has more religious festivals every year than any other town in Mexico. The town is distinct because its social system, based on separate neighborhoods, is still functioning strongly, and each neighborhood, or barrio, still celebrates its own saints day with one or as many as 20 festivals featuring food, music, religious processions and of course fireworks. On important holidays such as Good Friday, the streets in the center of town are closed down and carpeted with flowers for the parades.

Semana Santa has a strong culinary tradition, one that partakes of the popular food of the streets in a season when everyone seems to be outdoors.

Historian Jeffrey Pilcher cites a description of Semana Santa from the 1800's era memoirs of Guillermo Prieto. "From Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday throngs of people danced through the streets, in a movable feast of popular cuisine. Thirsty revelers guzzled aguas frescas, refreshing waters flavored with pineapple, melon, tamarindo, and chia seeds, dispensed by women from palm-frond and flower-decorated stands. Holy Week also marked the traditional start of Mexico City's ice cream season, these frozen treats made with ice carried down from the slopes of Popocatépetl."

Aguas frescas booths offer some relief from the heat. Refreshing drinks made from jamaica, horchata, melon and other seasonal fruits are ladled out from large, clear glass containers. The booths themselves are adorned with flowers, palm fronds, paper cutouts and fresh fruit. Other booths, also decorated, sell the small, donut-like cookies called roscas and the nut bars known as muéganos.

One of the most important religious and educational centers in ancient Mesoamerica, Cholula, which means "A place of those who fled" is the oldest continually inhabited city in the northern hemisphere.

Holy Week ends the 40-day period of Lent and is the most sacred time of the year in Mexico. During this time, there are numerous activities, such as religious processions and decorations on the sidewalks with flowers. People may create small altars and palm crosses are ubiquitous.

website: www.time-less-image.com

web blog: http://time-less-image.typepad.com/comics_legends_and_lore/

web store: http://stores.ebay.com/Time-Less-Image/Home-Page.html

Blogs are ranked in various ways, and one of the more significant ones (besides linking or subscribing) happens via Technorati. In brief, Technorati tracks millions of blogs and lets users search them, tag them, and rank them. If you own a blog, or if you read them, I recommend signing up with Technorati (it's free and takes a couple minutes). And if you enjoy this blog, I encourage you, please, to "favorite" it.