A 70-something Tapatio recalls Holy Week in Guadalajara: “When I was a child, there was no radio, we didn’t go to the movies.
The few movie theaters there were had only religious films playing. People attended church every day and on Good Friday everyone dressed in black. There was no music, dances or parties over Easter.”
This kind of devotion is hard to find these days. Increasingly, the emphasis next week will be on fun, much to the annoyance of Catholic Church leaders.
In recent years, the Catholic hierarchy has churned out warnings to the faithful about the perils of Holy Week excess, but the appetite for indulgence only seems to grow.
The beach is the favored destination for many Guadalajara denizens. This will be evidenced by the steady stream of cars, pick ups, vans and buses heading west this weekend.
Most hoteliers at Pacific Ocean hotspots stopped taking reservations several months ago. Full 100-percent occupancy is usually the norm at Easter in Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Melaque, San Blas and the like.
But the dense crowds are one excellent reason why those who like peace and quiet with their sun and sand should steer well clear.
Anyone who does make for the coast should be warned that breathing space on the beach can be especially hard to find, and noise and hygiene issues can frequently arise.
But for many city folk, Easter is the only opportunity during the year to go on vacation with their families. Some mean-spirited bosses insist their workers take their annual paid leave at this time.
For those who stay behind in the traffic-free city, Semana Santa offers plenty of opportunities for relaxation and religious reflection. The seven-church visit on Maundy Thursday in Guadalajara’s city center is one tradition that has endured into the modern age. The visit commemorates Christ’s departure from the Last Supper and his walk through the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was ultimately betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Vendors of traditional Easter empanadas (turnovers) will do a brisk trade on this day. In fact, the empanadas are so famous that it is claimed many people take part in the seven-church visit just to sample the different varieties.
Others staying put in the city may head out to a local baleanrio (water park) or catch the judea (passion play) in San Martin de las Flores, a barrio of Tlaquepaque. This three-day event recreates the trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and has been a tradition for 200 years, although it was interrupted by the anti-clerical movement of the early 1900s. About 35 young people from the pueblo of San Martin take the leading roles while another 120 make up the supporting cast.
On the negative side, some heads of households will find themselves drawn into debt over the Easter break as they blow caution to the wind to please their families. The haggard faces of those waiting in line at Guadalajara’s Monte de Piedad national pawnshop in the week after Easter tells this story.