Semana Santa

It is also the single busiest holiday period of the year. Think of it as a combination of Spring Break -on a massive scale- and Christmas. Like most Mexican religious observances, it is a mix of the sacred and the profane. Somber religious ceremonies mix with uninhibited partying.

Easter Week signals a mass exodus from the cities; anybody who can afford a bus ticket, squeeze into the family subcompact or Uncle Manuel's truck heads for the coast and the countryside. It is said that utility consumption, water, electricity etc, falls by as much as 30 percent during this period in Mexico City.

The preferred destination, of course, is a beach resort. On even the most isolated beaches you are likely to encounter large families of campers and day-trippers. It is a good time to stay off the highways and to just enjoy the community in which you find yourself. Hotel rooms are booked solid, as are planes and buses.

In the past, this huge influx of visitors put a major strain on Puerto's infrastructure, resulting in shortages of supplies in the stores, ice, gasoline and cash at the bank machines. This is no longer a problem as major businesses and the local authorities are now prepared for the obvious. The city's garbage trucks have even managed to deal with the mounds of trash that this sudden explosion in population inevitably generates.)

To meet the sybaritic needs of our visitors there will be all manner of entertainment activities taking place around town: carnival rides for the kids, dances, beach parties, sometimes cock fights and almost always rodeos. Mariachis, street entertainers, arts and crafts vendors (and far too many young kids with conga drums) work the crowds strolling the Adoquin pedestrian mall and the Zicatela strip.

Here are some of the regularly occurring events (although we were unable to confirm the details as we went to press):

Festival of the Sea is a three-day program of music, sports, games and prizes from a stage on the town's main beach, (Playa Principal) sponsored by the Sol beer people.

Boca Barra Festival in Barra de Colotepec, which sits at the mouth of the Colotepec River, hosts an Easter weekend fiesta each year that includes a fishing tournament, Surfing and Miss Bikini contest, a "Beach Rodeo" The entrance to the town is just before you reach the bridge over the Colotepec River.

Ecology & Folklore Festival in the "other" Barra, Barra de Navidad (located on the far bank of the Colotepec River). On Easter Weekend the town will show off its eco-tourism preserve, with its iguana and crocodile hatchery, offer tours of their small lagoons to view the bird activity and the other abundant wildlife, including the release of baby marine turtles.

Easter Week

AS WITH almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication. Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side.

In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival. The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Easter. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity slowly by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner. Semana Santa, or Holy Week, begins with the observance of Palm Sunday which takes its name from Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the crowds laid palms at his feet. Holy Thursday commemorates the Last Supper, which was held the evening before the Crucifixion. Friday in Holy Week, Good Friday, is the anniversary of the Crucifixion, the day that Christ was crucified and died on the cross.

During this week, the faithful throughout Mexico celebrate with great fervor the last days of Christ on earth. Thursday and Good Friday of Easter Week are when things reach a peak of activity. On these days most communities hold religious processions and reenactments of events such as the Last Supper and the arrest of Christ and His trial before Herod. Some are very elaborate pageants and Passion Plays with costumed characters representing biblical figures such as Pontius Pilate, the Virgin Mary and Christ Himself.

On Good Friday, the procession known as el Encuentro, the meeting or encounter, takes place when Mary is reunited with her son during His passage along the Via Doloroso to His crucifixion.

On the Saturday before Easter, Saturday of Glory as it is known here (Sabado de Gloria), in some communities there's some comic relief to the general solemnity with the raucous burning of Los Judas, the Judases. These large papier maché effigies, usually painted in eye-popping colors, representing Judas Iscariot.

The figures are hung up in the street or the central town plaza. Once the public has gathered, the effigies are ignited in quick succession, thereby symbolizing the triumph of good over evil.

For all Christian churches, Easter Sunday is unquestionably the most important day of the entire religious calendar. Since all Roman Catholics are expected to attend mass and take Holy Communion to mark the holiday, every celebration held in each of the thousands of churches throughout Mexico will be packed with the faithful on this day.

The church bells will ring out to proclaim a day of joy and spiritual renewal, the promise of redemption symbolized by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ has risen! Spring is here! There is Light, Love and Hope that Good can conquer Evil. There is Hope for Peace. Let all rejoice. It is the Rite of Spring.