MEXICO / ECUADOR: Catholics mark Good Friday with annual processions involving traditions of penance and self-flagellation

Record ID: 300659

  • Title: MEXICO / ECUADOR: Catholics mark Good Friday with annual processions involving traditions of penance and self-flagellation
  • Date: 7th April 2007
  • Summary: (NIGHT SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VISITOR, ALEJANDRO VALDEZ, SAYING: "I haven't assimilated to the tradition of flagellation, but I think that the people have the right to demonstrate their devotion and their beliefs as they want to." MAN WHIPPING HIMSELF MAN WHIPPING HIS BACK BLEEDING WOUNDS ON BACK MAN WHIPPING HIMSELF HOODED MAN HOLDING ROSEMARY HOODED MEN WHIPPING TH
  • Embargoed: 22nd April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA9JK7Z7TPV0O31GMFX9Q583VSG
  • Story Text: Thousands of Catholics in Mexico and Ecuador gathered for annual Holy Week processions on Friday (April 6) and practiced penance and self-flagellation to ask forgiveness for their sins.
    Tens of thousands of Mexico's Catholic faithful shuffled down the main street of the old mining town of Taxco (185 kilometres south of Mexico City) for the procession.
    The ceremony is an annual event that draws Catholics from all over Mexico and tourists from around the world.
    In the dawn hours of Good Friday, penitents trudge through the streets some holding candles and many carrying religious statues. Others plod along with heavy bundles of thorny branches on their shoulders and chains shackling their feet to ask forgiveness for their sins.
    But it's the sight of dozens of hooded men, methodically lashing themselves, bloody sores glaring off their backs that draws the most attention.
    Many visitors feel conflicted by the tradition.
    "I haven't assimilated to the tradition of flagellation, but I think that the people have the right to demonstrate their devotion and their beliefs as they want to," said visitor, Alejandro Valdez.
    "There's so much emphasis on the suffering of Jesus and there are so many people suffering penance and going through their own personal passions. It's an impressive thing to see. It can be very moving, it can be very thought-provoking, very disturbing. And it can also be very beautiful - at times it's just absolutely beautiful - the images that you see here," added tourist James O'Connor.
    The exhaustion and bloody wounds are supposed to represent the penitents' regrets for their sins and also honour Christ's suffering and sacrifice, according to participants.
    The procession has taken place since colonial times.
    There was a similar scene in Quito, Ecuador on Friday as some 50,000 gathered for processions and to mark the holiday.
    Men and women dressed as Christ, and carried heavy crosses to ask forgiveness for their sins.
    "I made a promise to my Jesus that I am going to do it [play the role of Christ] with all devotion, with all faith and hoping that Christ knowns that I am asking for a miracle," said one woman, Patricia Flores.
    Ecuador's processions also originated in colonial times and historian Patricio Guerra said it began as a way to convert the indigenous to Catholicism.
    "Art accompanies much of Catholicism. Art is a way to help the indigenous understand themes for them that are new - and not just art, but processions too. Images were the easiest for the indigenous to understand as in the case of the Stations of the Cross," he said.
    Thousands throughout Latin America will fill churches on Sunday (April 8) for Easter mass.
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