The Music of Holy Week Processions: Guatemala and Nicaragua (with video)

Float from Holy Week Procession, Granada Nicaragua

Holy Week processions in Latin America are visually phenomenal, but they are more than just beautiful and moving  visual imagery.  Their sounds set the tone and music written especially for these solemn processions is an important part of the pageantry.    Holy Week processional music is funeral music that helps create the somber mood of the impending death of Jesus on Good Friday.   For the most part they are marches that give a sense of drive and movement to the processions. Please watch my video to hear some of this music, as well as see the sights.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXAqJQiRP7U&t=18s
Although there are some variations from area to area, the basic musical genre remains the same.

In the video, you saw footage of the Viacrucis Aquatic, a unique water-borne procession of the Way of the Cross on Lake Nicaragua in Granada Nicaragua, The photos below are from this procession and you will notice musical instruments in the second photo, the band for the procession.  They play the distinct funeral marches written specifically for Holy Week  For a more in-depth look at the Viacrucis Aquatic, please visit-https://colonialmexicoinsideandout.blogspot.com/2018/04/via-crucis-aquatic-granada-nicaragua.html

Lead float bearing image of Jesus, Viacrucis Aquatic, Granada Nicaragua

Processional Band, Viacrucis Aquatic, Granada Nicaragua

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Creating an Earthly Paradise: The Huertos of Guatemala and Nicaragua

Huerto, La Merced Church, Antigua, Guatemala

The Holy Week huertos of Antigua, Guatemala are true spectacles with a deep religious and communal significance.   They are created in churches in conjunction with velaciones, portrayals of scenes of Christ's passion and the beautiful sawdust carpets for which Antigua is famous.  (Please remember that all photos enlarge when clicked for better viewing details).

                                                   

Huerto, La Merced Church, Antigua, Guatemala

                                                                                                     

The fruits and vegetables that go into creating the huerto, in English orchard or garden, are donated by church members and neighbors and often are later sold at a reduced price or given away to people who need them.

Huertos symbolize the abundance and redemption that come with the resurrection of Christ on Easter.  There is also some association with the idea of garden, since it was in the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus prayed during the unfolding of the events leading up to the crucifixion.

The huertos  of Nicaragua are quite different from the geometrical, elaborate ones seen in Guatemala, although the idea of plenty is present in the copious fruit and foodstuffs used to decorate them.   They are open-sided  enclosures constructed out of sticks and covered with palm fronds.  In some places they are filled with fruits and other types of food. The five photos below were taken in Diria and Diriomo, pueblos in the Masaya region outside of Granada.

Building a Huerto, Holy Wednesday,  Dioriomo, Nicaragua

Building a Huerto, Holy Wednesday, Diria Nicaragua

Building a huerto, Diria, Nicaragua

Huerto,  Holy Wednesday, Diria Nicaragua

Huerto, Holy Wednesday, Diria, Nicaragua

In Granada Nicaragua, the huertos were  somewhat different.  They, too, had stick frames covered with palm fronds, but their interiors were less elaborately decorated with foodstuffs. Instead, each was used as a shelter for a holy figure from the church. In some of the booths religious items were being sold- rosaries and small pieces of cloth that were rubbed on the figures and then were worn or carried by people to confer protection on them.

             
                                         

Huerto, Holy Wednesday night, Granada, Nicaragua

Huerto,  Holy Wednesday night, Granada, Nicaragua

                                    

Huerto, Holy Wednesday night, Granada Nicaragua

Huerto, Holy Wednesday night, Granada, Nicaragua

These huertos are built on Holy Wednesday and remain up the following day.  They  provide worshippers an opportunity to be close to the images, these figures of Jesus, Mary and others that are normally on display in a church or carried in procession.  The huertos  provide an environment of intimacy in which people can interact with these figures and receive the spiritual benefits of this.