Semana Santa (Holy Week) en México

When I accepted my position at NPH a woman who had volunteered with NPH contacted me and asked if I wanted to get coffee since we both lived in Minnesota. She invited another woman who had recently finished her year of service at NPH México's Miacatlan home. She was able to describe her different experiences and one of them that got me the most excited was Holy Week (Semana Santa). The two NPH homes gather starting on Thursday and stay for the Triduum in Miacatlan. So without further ado, here are some snippets from a beautiful week. FYI, some of photos were taken by my roommate, who is the photographer for the homes. 

Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday): "As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road; and now as he was approaching the slope of Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to praise their God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen." Luke 19:28-20

Palm Sunday in the home was pretty casual. Myself and my fellow volunteer Emily handed out palms before mass started. I was talking with one of the pequeños, who was the alter server for the mass, and he told me how excited he was for Domingo de Ramos; hearing that made my heart so happy. I couldn't understand a good portion of the mass, but it was still beautiful. Because Sunday was after all a special day the cooks had prepared tacos for everyone. Since I have been here they haven't had tacos in the home so it was definitely a treat! The rest of the day was filled with relaxation, futbol, and other various activities. The kids started their vacation two days before so the whole weekend had been pretty chill. 

Playing the music at mass.

Jueves Santo (Holy Thursday): "Before the feast of the passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end." John 13:1

On Thursday, after a very hot bus ride, we arrived to an ever hotter Miacatlan. With temperatures topping around 97 degrees it quickly became evident we were not in Cuernavaca anymore. You would think as a Minnesotan I would be used to these temperatures but I came to realize how much I have been spoiled by the cool mountain temperatures in Cuernavaca. Despite the uncomfortably hot weather, I was grateful to be in Miacatlan celebrating the Triduum with about 650 children, the encargados (caregivers for the children) and a my fellow volunteers. The mass for the Last Supper was beautiful. We celebrated it outside right next to the chapel. It was a combined celebration of the Eucharist and first communion for about 100 or so children. It was a wonderful surprise when I found out the kids would be receiving it at mass, even one of the teenagers from Cuerna received first communion. Bonus, during the mass I understood most of the homily! Score for continuing to boost my Spanish confidence. Fr. Phil also did the washing of the feet during the Gospel reading. I had never seen it done like that before, but it made it a lot more intimate and even more real. After mass they had their traditional "Last Supper" meal to represent, you guessed it, the Last Supper. It contained rice, beans, tortillas and carnitas (fried pig, not my favorite thing I have tried here) because obviously that was what Jesus and the Apostles ate (JK). But as usual it was delicious!

  

Viernes Santo (Good Friday): "But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all." Isaiah 53:5-6 "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Luke 23:34

Good Friday is one of my favorite days of the year, because it is the true testament of love and sacrifice. At noon we celebrated a prayers service that wasn't much different than what I would have witnessed if I were in the states (the beauty of the Catholic Church), aside from the fact that it was outside, there were 650 children, and about 90 degrees. It was hard to get into Easter mode when it there wasn't any snow, well at least when it wasn't around 40 degrees out. The prayer service was lovely; a lot of the kids were able to participate in the music, the readings, and holding up the cross to be kissed at the end of mass. 

After the service I decided to walk into town to go to one of the chapels. Around 2:00 I heard a lot of noise and decided to go see what it was and am I glad I did. The town had done a reenactment of Jesus' walk into Calvary. I had never seen anything like it before. They had Jesus and Simon and the two criminals walking with the crosses, the guards, the Virgin Mary, John and Mary Magdalene, and everyone else who was involved in the crucifixion. I was so glad I went into town so that I was able to witness it! The rest of the day the children had activities (futbol, swimming, volleyball, etc.) and later in the evening they watched the Passion of the Christ and ate a lot of treats! 

Sabodo de Gloria (Holy Satuday): "A clean heart, create for me, oh God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me." Psalm 51:12

Saturday was wonderful, can you imagine a water fight with about 500 people? Nope? Before Saturday I couldn't have imagined it either, but it helped make Saturday wonderful. Right after breakfast the fight began, and I mean right after breakfast. As I was walking back to the volunteer housing to drop off my coffee and get my water fight weapon I got nailed with about five water balloons by the kids from the Cuernavaca home. They were definitely the first ones I got back when I had my water

One of the pequeñas and I soaking wet.
Featured: in my left hand the milk carton weapon.

fight. As for my weapon, I found an empty LaLa Leche carton from breakfast and made a bigger hole to attack with- reduce, reuse, recycle am I right? The next two hours were spent laughing, running away from a buckets full of water, and refilling my little carton as many times as possible. As you can imagine, by the end every child, volunteer, and employee was soaked. Seeing the little kinder kids with their little buckets was probably the cutest, they couldn't throw the water very high but it was a valiant effort on their part. The water fight easily made my top five favorite Mexico moments. After the water fight the kids went swimming. I didn't partake in the activity because as a guerra (white person) I was already starting to burn, so I retreated back to the volunteer's housing to relax. After lunch the Cuernavaca kids returned back to the home. I wanted to see the sunrise mass in the morning so I decided to stay in Miaca for one extra night. 

Pascua (Easter): "But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said." Matthew 28:5-6

The empty tomb in the NPH Miaca Home

At 6:00 on Easter morning we were all sitting in outside in the darkness as Father carried the Easter candle down the aisle saying "Cristo es luz del mundo."- "Christ is the light of the world." As the homily was starting the sun was rising and the kids were beaming. My heart was melting celebrating Christ's resurrection with the kids and during the service as one of the younger boys was cold and asked me to put my arm around him to help keep him warm. After mass they served hot chocolate and donuts for the kids, and each child was given a chocolate egg that was donated by NPH sponsors. Staying in Miaca an extra night and waking up at dawn was well worth it. After the donuts and hot cocoa I headed back to Cuerna to be with my kids for the day. Mass was in our chapel in Cuerna and we all got hot chocolate, donuts and chocolate eggs afterwards. After that we had an Easter egg hunt. There were different prizes, but the one the kids were most excited about were two eggs with 500 pesos, two eggs with 300 pesos and two eggs with 100 pesos. Some kids got into it while others just sat around hanging out but it was a great time. After that the rest of the day was pretty casual. Later on in the evening I got to Skype my family, which helped make being away from them a little easier. Overall it was a perfect Easter day, complete with perfect mountain temps.

Semana Santa was definitely one of a kind and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Coming up next the kids have one more week of break from school, then we are going to keep on keeping on until summer break. As always, please keep us all in your prayers! 

God bless and Happy Easter season!
Katie

PS if you made it to the end of this long blog I applaud you. 

Two of my fellow volunteers.

Grandma didn't really understand how FaceTime works.