How We Celebrate Holy Week at Casa Bernabé
Holy Week, or Semana Santa, is one of the most important cultural celebrations throughout Latin America. Antigua, Guatemala is one of the places people come from all over the world to participate in and watch the Semana Santa celebrations.
In Antigua, people participate in processions, carrying large floats depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the Stations of the Cross as they tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection throughout the week.
On Thursday they wear purple robes, on Friday they wear black to represent the death of Jesus and their mourning, and on Sunday they wear white to represent His resurrection and their joy. The cucuruchos, or people carrying the floats, walk slowly through the streets while a band plays music that reflects the theme of each procession.
Another way people can participate is by creating alfombras in the streets. These vibrant carpets are made from colored sawdust, dried food, flower petals, or fresh fruits and vegetables. Groups construct wooden scaffolding and stencils to be able to assemble their alfombra without damaging it. They spend countless hours designing and decorating the alfombras to line the pathway for the processions, and in minutes the alfombras are trampled and destroyed.
At Casa Bernabé, our Holy Week celebration looks different, but it's no less festive. Semana Santa serves as our kids' spring break from school, so they have the whole week off. The kids like to sleep in, enjoy slow mornings, catch up on movies, and rest. The house parents also like to make sure they get plenty of cleaning done while all the kids are home, and this week is an unofficial spring cleaning in all our homes.
Throughout the week our staff remind the kids of what Holy Week means and talk about Jesus’ journey during the week leading up to His death. Some houses watched Passion of the Christ, or The Chosen. On Tuesday night the houses got together and watched the movie Heavenly Deposit.
On Resurrection Sunday, our sunrise service starts at 5:30 am, so most houses woke up around 4:00 am to get all the kids ready. We started with a message from our Director, Edgar Salguero, worshiped together, honored the staff and kids who have a birthday this week, collected an offering, and watched the sunrise.
After the service, the houses came together to eat a celebratory breakfast of tamales, rolls, hot chocolate, champuradas, and sweet bread. Then everyone went back to the houses to rest and enjoy their last day of break.
We hope you and your families enjoyed your Holy Week celebrations as much as we did, and we thank God for your continued prayers and support of Casa Bernabé.