Limon buds - this was just a stick when we arrived!

It's Palm Sunday as I write this post. For this next week, Easter will take over Mexico. One local gringo told me on New Years day "If you think they take New Years seriously, wait 'til you see what happens here at Easter time!"

Beginning this evening there is a procession from the east end of town recreating Jesus and the desciples' entry into Jerusalem.  Actors lead, with a throng of people following waving palm fronds, wheat springs and herbal bouquets. There is a special evening Mass when they arrive at the large church as well as a huge street fair (Jamaica del Pasado). All very traditional.

On Maundy Thursday, they recreate the Last Supper and other portions of the Passion Play with actors, beginning on the "mountain" side of town.  There Jesus is taken away in shackles by torch-bearing soldiers and led down to the plaza.  The realism in these recreations is said to be difficult for some people to handle, we're told.  Good Friday brings sequences from the Trial and Condemnation, and the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) where the faithful follow Jesus, carrying a heavy cross up to the side of the hill again.  Then he is carried back down through town to the church, where a burial scene is enacted.  After Mass, churchgoers "parade" through town in La Marche de Silencio, which is done in complete silence, through darkened streets to mourn his death.  Easter eve brings the lights back to the church, a re-enactment of the Resurrection and then at 11 pm the bells in all local churches will peal to start a festival that will probably go on all night.  It's called Quema de Judas, and includes a custom of blowing up paper mache figures symbolizing evil with many firecrackers.  No surprise there... Other than more church services, Easter Sunday is quiet and I suspect it will be like at Christmas where everyone will end up at the park by the lake.

While all of this is going on, it is school holiday for two weeks (their Spring Break).  There are MANY tourists in town already.  The newspaper said over the week we can expect to see 2 million additional people visit.  I doubt that figure, but it is a huge lake and there are a lot of varied destinations (beaches, mountains, islands, etc) so who knows?