Good Friday in Honduras

I have been asking and asking to see if anyone was going to see the "Alfombras" (carpets) for Good Friday. Last year I had just arrived in Honduras, so I didn't know about the alfombras.  This year I was determined to go.

Yesterday Hermida and I were gabbing in the driveway.  She asked what I was doing today.  I told her I wanted to see the alfombras, but nobody was going.  She said that she has always wanted to go, but had never had anyone to go with her!  So this morning we got up early.  Carlos, her husband, told me that the alfombras in Tegucigalpa were on CNN this morning.  The alfombras in El Hatillo are much smaller, but for my first experience it was perfect.  I was able to get up close and hear everything.   

We parked near the church and walked down where the procession would start.  We passed these alfombras along the way.  Some people were still making their alfombras.  Apparently families from the Catholic church get together and make the alfombras.  I forgot to ask exactly what they are made of, but it looked like colored sand.  They made the backdrop and then used cardboard with shapes cut out.  They dropped the colored sand into the cut out spot and made layer over layer.  As the day got hotter they sprayed they with water to keep them from blowing away.

We saw these on the way down to the starting point:

St Francis

The first station.  A dove.

Everyone sang as they walked to the next station

I loved that the priest wore a baseball cap.
It matched his robes and protected him from the sun.

Some people carried crosses

At each station someone read the story of Jesus' crucification
Then they applied Jesus' struggles to our struggles in today's life
and had a time of reflection.

I was really impressed by how they applied each station to real-life problems of today.  I wished I had a pen to write it all down.  They talked about how to avoid the corruption that is rampant in Honduras.  They talked about having hope - getting back up when you are down.  They addressed domestic violence, respecting women, protecting the environment - every day issues that Hondurans face.

Star of David

The Virgin of Suyapa - a famous statue found in the 1700's near my house

I was a little obsessed with the priest's baseball cap.

We also passed a little burro/pony

Someone pointed out how amazing the sky looked

The last supper - this was the biggest one

Branches above left shadows in the picture.

The last station was in front of the church

The last station - "Year of the Faith 2012-2013"

The inside of the Catholic church was gorgeous.
The photo doesn't do it justice.

After the procession Hermida invited me to join her family for a Good Friday tradition.  The ladies made two kinds of soup.  One was with dried fish which was soaked, then cleaned, then breaded in a tempura style and put into the soup with big pieces of breaded cheese.  It was delicious!  Then we had a coconut seafood soup.  It was a little like a Thai dish.  There was a type of crab inside, with the shell still on.  For desert we had a dish of sweet fruit.  One was kind of like a fig/plum with a big seed inside.  You put the whole thing in your mouth and suck on it until all of the fruit comes off the seed.  There were also bananas and mangoes in a sweet syrup.  Yummy!  We sat in Hermida's parents' yard, which is a beautiful garden paradise, and ate course after course.  Then we relaxed, talked, had coffee and talked more until the sun set and it got chilly.