Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is not to be missed if you are in town. Some events occur the week before Palm Sunday so check out the full schedule in the Friday Atencion. The crowds in town can be quite large, so be prepared. Sometimes it is best to find restaurants and accommodations outside of Centro. Highlights include:
Two Sundays before Easter Sunday, there is one of the most festive processions of the season. Senor de la Columna, or Jesus on the Column, is a statue that is normally found in Atotonilco. But on this Sunday the statue is carried all night from its permanent site arriving at the top of Avenida Independencia around 7 am. As fireworks explode overhead, the statue is carried, flanked by Roman soldiers and followed by the pilgrims who have walked all night. All proceed down Independencia walking over beautiful sawdust alfombras, or carpets, that have been made by the residents or over chamomile flowers that have been thrown in the street; the smell is amazing and it is very festive. The procession ends at San Juan de Dios church. Don’t miss this if you are in town. March 26, 2023 was the 200th anniversary of this important celebration.
If you can’t attend the procession, on the Wednesday during Semana Santa at 5pm, they hold a procession of Senor de la Columna in the neighborhood around San Juan de Dios. It is one of my favorite processions of the week.
The Friday night before Palm Sunday is one of my favorite nights in town. The Virgin of Dolores, or Our Lady of Sorrows, is celebrated with decorating all of the fountains in town and making home altars. You see these particularly in the older Mexican sections. You can enter the homes to see the altars which have the Virgin at the foot of Jesus on the cross. They use candles, wheat grass and oranges on the altars. Many are really over the top, while many are really very simple. There are many families with children walking from home to home, gathering in the homes with their friends, enjoying the paletas (ice cream bars) and sweets handed out at each location. It is festive, peaceful and a really wonderful experience.
I recommend avoid the crowds in Centro and walk through Colonia San Antonio, Colonia Independencia or parts of Colonia Allende where you can experience the local altars and not those created for tourists.
Everyone should experience Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in a place like San Miguel. Beginning with two main processions on Palm Sunday, there are processions most days throughout the week. On Palm Sunday there is one which runs downhill on San Francisco to the Templo de San Francisco de Asís which is followed by a large procession which starts in Parque Juarez and moves up Sollano to the Parroquia. In front of the churches, make sure to stop and buy some crosses and other items woven from palm fronds. I ahve a whole collection of these beautiful pieces.
On Thursday everyone is out again visiting the traditional seven churches at night. There are also several Last Supper recreations. The week culminates on Good Friday with the trial of Christ in front of the Parroquia and the Funeral Procession late in the afternoon from the Templo del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri. It is very formal and very somber and should be experienced once. Saturday brings the Procession of the Virgin of Solitude, where women carry the statue from the Oratorio. On Easter Sunday the big event is the blowing up of the Judases, in the Jardin at noon, when life size paper mache effigies of Judas, often political figures, are filled with fireworks and blown up in front of a large crowd.
In 2023, I went to the Templo del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri the morning of the Good Friday funeral procession and walked in the back entrance. I was able to see the volunteers decorating the saints and other figures with flowers. It was a wonderful experience. Also that morning, for the second year in a row, I saw a colorful, small local procession passing by the Ignacio Ramírez Market from Animas.
