The Tzotzil Mayans celebrate their Holy Thursday procession despite the pandemic

Venustiano Carranza (Mexico), Apr 1 (EFE) – The Tzotzil Mayan peoples, in the second Holy Week under the covid-19 pandemic, have not stopped praying and carrying out ceremonial activities such as the procession carried out this Holy Thursday in the southeastern state of Chiapas.

In the old town of San Bartolomé de los Llanos, known today as Venustiano Carranza, approximately one hundred Tzotzil Indians celebrated their traditional and particular ceremony, carried out in a way reminiscent of Spanish processions.

“Venustiano Carranza is too religious, he is a believer. It is the only festival where indigenous and mestizos come together to transcend the spiritual”Diana Cuello Avendaño, a resident of Venustiano Carranza and a teacher by profession, explained to Efe to justify the rite.

Jesus of Nazareth is not represented by a person, as is customary in Mexico, but a wooden image over 100 years old that measures approximately one and a half meters.

A group of people carry it during the day, during the seven falls route.

In the afternoon, an image of Jesus reclining goes through the streets of the town representing his death and burial until it takes him to one of the town’s churches, where the faithful pass one by one to kiss the image.

The tour is escorted by characters called custodians, who are distinguished by wearing a purple hood, dark glasses, a white coat, a sash of the same color as the mask, and a long pole with an iron tip, much like the Spanish Nazarenes.

Another character, with the same clothing but in black and tied by the arms, represents Judas Iscariot.

Among drums, whistles and rattles, people go on pilgrimage behind the image to commemorate the procession of one of the most important festivities in the entire Christian world.

Its faithful assure that there is no memory that these religious activities were interrupted under any circumstances in the past, so the pandemic did not stop them and the fear of more misfortunes prompts them to go out to pray and ask for mercy.

Bartolomé Vásquez Martínez, farmer and assistant of religious festivities, recalled that “in 2017 there was an earthquake that damaged the sacred temples”, which the people interpreted as a call for having “neglected faith”.

“For fear of further harm we continue to carry out the tradition with faith”, settled.

Holy Week is a period when the population of this town converges and prays for abundance, glory and health, as they are convinced that energy is deteriorating and that is why turbulent times have arrived.

(c) EFE Agency