My impressions of Christianity will never be the same. Not after yesterday in San Miguel de Allende. Good Friday was marked by two vivid processions through the streets of this 400-year-old Mexican city. At noon, the Passion of the Christ was marked with a steady parade of Roman centurions, angels, and two men portraying the thieves crucified with Christ (pictured above). At dusk, a silent parade of some 2,000 mourners marked the funeral of Jesus Christ. It was stirring, graphic, and oddly foreign — odd in that I come from a “Christian nation” and have never seen such a display of devotion. Between the men being whipped shirtless in the streets, to the old women carrying massive altars of the saints that must have weighed at least 1,000 pounds, I have developed a whole new understanding of Christianity’s complexities, both spiritual and cultural.
I will do a whole blog post on the parades when we get back. For now, I just wanted to post one image that captures one moment in a more significant journey. Tomorrow is our last full day in San Miguel de Allende. Monday, we return.
