JESUS WALKS! - Part One

Imagine traveling to a foreign country and being the only foreigner to participate in a sacred holy ceremony with roughly two thousand local residents. This was the experience that awaited me this last weekend. I assume most of you have read Brittany's previous postings on the Catholic Processions that occur in Antigua during the period of lent, leading up to Easter weekend, so I won't go into detail regarding the meaning of the procession itself. However, I will go into detail about my experience participating in the Procesion de Jocotenango de Jesus de Nazarene last weekend. A few days prior to the weekend, our host mom here in Antiqua simply asked me during dinner in I wanted to participate in the upcoming procession. It seemed that they were members of the sponsoring church and our host mom's husband and two boys would all be participating. With somewhat of a pit in my stomach I said yes...or si rather, and told Brittany to start getting some details, so I could figure out to what I had just agreed. It turned out that anyone can participate and one simply needs to have a tunic, pay about $3 US, and get measured. First things first we went to the church in Jocotenango (the sponsoring church in a nearby town) last Friday night so I could go to the "Inscripcion" and get measured. The cucuruchus, or people that carry the statue of Jesus, are divided by height, starting with the tallest and working their way down. Here I was measured with this odd wooden device, after which I paid the small fee and my name and height was recorded for my assignment on Sunday. Friday night is called the night of the vigil where just about everyone comes from town to the church to take part in the events. The air was electric with a brass band playing a large set of songs, small carnival games occupied by the little children, the men and boys lining up to sign up for the procession, and everyone feasting of food from all the vendors. We also crushed into the mass of people (myself with one of the host kids on my shoulders) to see the massive alfombra designed with flowers, fruit, and wood shavings in the center of the church. However, this was only the beginning...