Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Holy Week in San Antonio

"Howdy" to y'all! This is the middle of Holy Week, leading up to that MOST IMPORTANT DAY of all the year for us Christians, Resurrection Sunday, when we celebrate the rising from the dead of our crucified Savior! This also celebrates the hope of our own resurrection, when we believers will share in Christ's eternal bliss! Hallelujah!

I'd like to share a couple of things about the San Antonio customs of this most holy week of the year. First, a lot of middle-class and upper-class residents of Mexico customarily visit San Antonio during Holy Week (I think it's a school holiday there, and a time for vacationing from jobs). They come to shop, shop and shop-'til-they-drop. Oh, and we also see a lot of them at Fiesta Texas, where I work seasonally.

Second, lots of local families also do a special activity during the week, or at least the last half of it. They camp out in the local parks. Great idea, since this is THE BEST WEATHER of the year in South Texas. I found out about this custom the first year I lived here, A.D. 2002, when I lived just across Broadway from Brackenridge Park, one of the oldest & largest of San Antonio's parks. Sure en'uf, when I took a stroll thru "Brack" I found lots of tents set up, and families playing volleball, horseshoes and other games, grilling - and doing that custom which only THEN did I realize happened on Pascua, as Resurrection Sunday's called in Spanish, as well as during Fiesta.

Which brings me to the third & final item. Cascarones. That's Spanish for "eggshells", and refers to painted (or otherwise decorated) eggshells filled with confetti. These are broken over someone's head, showering confetti & colored fragments of eggshell on them. I used to think that the correct way to do this was to give the "victim" a noogie with the cascarón, but my native friends informed me, back in '02, that it's considered more fitting to hold the eggshell inside the hand, just above the head and make a tight fist to crush it, then open the hand to let down the shower - on shoulders as well as the head! Whatever the manner of attack, I truly enjoy being both the giver AND the recipient of cascarones!

Have a joyful and most holy week, and as we remember THE GREATEST EVENT of History -- the passion-trial-crucifixion-burial-and-Resurrection of the Nazarene -- a most blessed Resurrection Day this Sunday!


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