#Semana actual cracked#
#Semana actual full#

A long table is set up on a stage usually reserved for mariachi bands and political speeches. In the cool evening air of Temoaya, youths from town dress up and reenact the Last Supper in the town square.

I come on Thursday, Jueves Santo (Holy Thursday), the night of the Last Supper. Plenty of seats are available for the bumpy ride. The bus ride goes smoothly on this holiday - roads normally congested with trucks, bicycles and street vendors are wide open. Cheerful people share tacos on the street and exchange warm greetings with their neighbors passing by.

All around are small towns like Temoaya - glimpses into rural life, where Sunday markets, town fairs and public events create a community not found in the development of the nearby big city. Toluca has the fading charm of peeling paint, crumbling concrete, and illogical one-way streets, an alternative to the overpopulation of Mexico City. The Toluca Valley is a dry, cactus and agave dotted altiplano (high plains), with pine-forested mountains and rolling farms of corn and dust beyond modest urban sprawl. IвЂ™m in Temoaya, a town about an hour from Toluca, the capital of the State of Mexico, which in turn is an hour or two from Mexico City. For the religious or curious, you can choose any small town and check out the festivities. You will pay double for a hotel and sit in traffic for hours. However, prices are inflated and roads are congested. For many here in Mexico itвЂ™s a vacation, a time to travel, to hit the beach, like Spring Break. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the week before Easter in Latin America. So if you think thatвЂ™s normal, donвЂ™t be surprised that in many parts of the world a teenager is whipped by his friends while dragging a big heavy cross up a mountain and is then crucified.ДЄ Holy Week for the Deeply Religious, Yet a Festival for the more Secular Some poke two pinholes in an egg, blow out the contents, and then paint it in pastels.

#Semana actual full#

They might even find a green plastic basket full of chocolates in colorful artificial straw. North of the border in the U.S., a giant rabbit hides chocolate eggs around the house or backyard. The crowd parts and then silently follows behind, sweating under the blazing sun.

Jesus creeps forward, now joined by two more teenagers in robes pulling crosses of their own. Loud yelling in Spanish accompanies the cracking of whips.

#Semana actual cracked#

It drags six feet behind, scraping against the cracked concrete of the main road in this quiet rural Mexican town. Flanked by two Romans on horseback, Jesus hoists the heavy wooden cross onto his bare back. The whipping begins after the final judgment. Narrative Travel Writing Contest 3rd Place WinnerД¬hrist carrying the cross during the Semana Santa (holy week of Easter) in Mexico.