As Christian communities across the world prepare to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection on Easter, each has its own unique way to commemorate one of the religion’s most significant days.
As Christian communities across the world are preparing to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, each has its own unique way to commemorate one of the religion's most significant days.
During Holy Week, various ceremonies are held to relive Jesus’s suffering, crucifixion and death.
In the Guatemalan city of Antigua, a procession on Holy Thursday — or Maundy Thursday — marked the start of a series of solemn ceremonies leading up to Easter.
Hundreds of onlookers witness the traditional Stations of the Cross procession, which traveled through the city after leaving the Church of San Francisco.
About 1,500 "cucuruchos," young men in purple and white headdresses, pass along a statue of Jesus of Nazareth carrying a golden cross on his back during the march, according to APTN.
Colorful rugs are adorned with vegetables and fruit to honor the sacrifices made by Christ. The rugs are laid on the ground to be used during the Holy Week processions.
The majority of Guatemala’s citizens is Roman Catholic and several processions are organized throughout Holy Week, including the Good Friday Procession of Mercy and the Procession of the Holy Burial.
In the southern Mexican town of Taxco, Catholics mark the start of Holy Week with an overnight procession.
In traditions dating back to 1622, some participants carry crosses and flagellate, or whip, themselves on the back with a lash made of rope and nails called a "disciplina," or discipline.
The “encruzados,” or crucified, carry bundles of thorny branches weighing between 66 and 88 pounds on their shoulders to emulate the suffering Jesus endured while carrying the cross, APTN reported.
Masked women, known as "encorvadas," or hunchbacks, walk barefoot down cobblestone streets while carrying crosses or dragging chains.
Catholic pilgrims marched through the streets of Jerusalem's Old City on Friday. They retraced the path the Christian tradition believes Jesus walked before his crucifixion.
Some of those marchers carried crosses of their own, stopping at 14 stations along the route that mark each event that befell Jesus on his final walk.
The final five stations occur inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, APTN reported.
The Church is built where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and laid to rest before he rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.
In the Czech Republic, a wooden rattling instrument is used instead of bells to call people to prayer over Easter weekend.
The Easter rattling, as it is called, creates a more somber mood.
Vitezslav Marcik, who runs a local theater, told APTN he gave white masks to those participating in the procession during Easter rattling to add to the event’s eerie nature.
Those marching are accompanied by a driving drum beat and odd music.
“When the rumbling ends, there is silence and the silence after such noise is very powerful,” Marcik said. “And we are also wearing masks; masks are symbols of mystery and Easter is one big mystery."
RELATED STORIES
