Holy Week is a whole different ballgame in South America

I know that this post is very tardy and crazy long but you have to understand that Holy Week was absolutely crazy (and long) and it took us every bit of a solid week to recover.  When was the last time that you went to church for 6+ hours a day for 5 straight days?  Chelsey and I read BOOKS (plural) of the Bible while sitting in church (because we don’t understand what they are saying, so, why not read?).

Before I get into details, I need to provide a little background on Holy Week and on what we were expecting.  First, school is cancelled for the entire week and stores are shut down Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  We were excited about not having Jardin (Pre-school) for the week.  The sisters told us “it as a time for reflection and relaxation.”  This was NOT OUR EXPERIENCE and I do not believe it was their experience, either, unless people here relax by increasing their responsibilities 10-fold.  Reflection...check.  Relaxation...not so much.  The week was beautiful and there was a lot of time for reflecting but relaxation was not a key component.  Anyhow, the details will provide you with an understanding of the aforementioned rant.

It all started with Palm Sunday (3-24-13).  Chelsey and I got downstairs early, dressed for church which we expected to commence at 9:30 (as we had been told the evening before).  At 9:20, one of the sisters wandered out and asked me to cut "small but beautiful palms" from the Palm tree in the yard.  This was, I thought a beautiful thing, and so I cut Palms consistent with what people carry in church in the US - a single blade of the palm.  Chelsey and I waited around but the Sisters were nowhere to be found.  

At 10:15 the Sisters wandered out, looked at what I had done and asked what they (referring to the blades of palm) were for.  They seemed disappointed and told me to go back and cut the entire Palm branch (not just the Blade).  I figured we were supplying the whole church with Palms.  I also thought we were an hour late.  We got to church and learned that Palms here are not limited to single blades like they are at home.  People craft really intricate baskets and have floral arrangements that they bring with them (above right).  The sisters did not craft anything so instead we carried 3 foot by 3 foot palm branches (see photo on right).  I asked why and they said something to the effect that "they like to be noticed."  As were removing them from the truck we realized they were covered with sharp thorns.  These thorns had to be removed so we could hold the palms.  It was a lot of yardwork that I did not expect before church.  On top of that we still could not figure out why things were running an hour behind.

Despite being a bit perturbed about the misunderstanding about mass times, we had a great mass, a nice lunch and were ready for Youth Group in the afternoon (we were told it started at 3:30).  That time rolled around and nobody was to be found.  Why was everyone late?  No big deal - we had stuff to prepare in the house because we were scheduled to go to the other house in Encarnacion that evening and then take a bus to Asuncion (departing at 12:30 AM and arriving in Asuncion at 6:00 AM the next day).  We had agreed with the sister to leave at 9:30 PM for the other house.  At 9:30 we went downstairs and the Sister was not ready.  She was in prayer.  We did not want to be late with our ride to the other house so we got her to take us to the other sister’s house.  We sat around and watched TV at the other house.  We had some time to burn as we were not supposed to leave 12:30, Midnight.  It was agreed that we would go to the bus station at Midnight and we really did not want to be late and miss the bus.  Midnight rolled around and the Sister was not to be found.  Where was she?  Why was she late?  We went and tracked her down.  It was only 11:00PM…. NOBODY HAD TOLD US THAT PARAGUAY LOSES AN HOUR ON PALM SUNDAY.  The whole day we were early by an hour!!!!  Four times that day we were confounded about why people were late.

Chelsey and I spent the night on the bus to Asuncion and arrived early on Monday (3-25-13) in Asuncion.  Long story but I needed to go the embassy for a new passport.  We arrived at 6:00AM.  We spent the morning on buses, taxis and touring the city.  At 1:00PM we went to the embassy and then got back on the bus and returned home at 11:30PM that evening.  The day was spent in extreme heat, wandering around the city.  It was nice to have some freedom but it was exhausting, too.

Tuesday (3-28-13) we relaxed in the morning but had work all afternoon with the Sisters.  We had been told that a few people were coming for the weekend and so we needed to clean the house.  Cleaning here is different than in the US because they don’t have any carpets and all the floors are tiled.  When you want to clean the floor you just throw a bucket of soapy water on it and then push the water (with the collected dirt) out the door or into the shower stall.  Once that is done you go back and dry the floor with a rag.  This happens at least once a week for the whole house (like >5,000 square feet) because the dirt outside is red and dusty – easily being tracked into the house.

On Wednesday (3-27-13) we had a two-hour mass in the morning for the Priests in the archdiocese to renew their vows.  When we got home around Noon a bunch of people started arriving at our house.  In total, our house population increased from 5 to 15.  As I said, we had been prepared that a few people were staying at our house for the weekend but we just believed it was a thing of convenience.  We knew there would be a lot of church and we just thought people wanted to visit, etc.  This was an incomplete understanding of what was about to happen.  Little did we know that we were about to begin the hardest 4 days of church attendance I have ever dreamed of experiencing.    

On Holy Thursday (3-28-13) the Sisters let us “sleep in” until 8:00 AM and we had morning prayer in the Chapel.  Then, we were tasked with various chores in the house until our next group prayer/reflection session which started at 11:00 and went until 12:30.  After that, we had lunch, cleaned up after lunch and immediately left for “Pascua Jovenes” - Youth Easter) – a 3 hour youth program to get people hyped up about Easter.  Pascua Jovenes deserves a little description.  Each day was 3+ hours of short readings, reflections, socializing, singing and dancing.  The singing and dancing is very similar to what we do in Jardin (with 3 and 4 year olds) but the target audience at Pascua Jovenes was 14-17.  (That being said, the actual attendees were more like 18-30 years old.)  I am not sure why more people were not upset about this.  People seemed to enjoy the dancing and singing but I had trouble getting into it.  Nevertheless, 18 year-olds in Paraguay totally ‘dug’ it (photo above).  The majority of participants were also involved in youth group but any of the kids just came in the door from the street.  It was an interesting program.  I could not help but reflect on how successful such a program would be in the US.... teenagers in Church for 3+ hours for 3 consecutive days?

Following PJ, we had a 30 minute break and then we went to the 2+ hour mass for the evening.  Chelsey and I got home and ate dinner around 9:00 PM, cleaned the dishes and were in our room by 10:30 PM.  At this point, we had been going pretty much non-stop for 14 hours.  PLEASE SOMEONE, TELL ME HOW THIS DAY IS “RELAXING”?

Holy Friday (3-29-13) turned out to be a lot like Holy Thursday.  In the morning, Chelsey was exhausted and slept while I went to Stations of the Cross in the neighborhood.  It was really beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed it for the first few stations UNTIL the sisters recruited me to assist with the microphone/amp (left) system.  The roads here are made of big chunks of stone and are not smooth.  Potholes are everywhere and pulling the amp on a luggage cart (while it was attached to a lady who was using the microphone and guitar as we walked) was not doing the trick.  Anyhow, the Sisters asked me to help and so I ended up carrying the amp with another man (with very short arms) in the Barrio for an hour.  At one point I had this crazy burning sensation on my feet and looked down – only to find out that I was standing in a red ant hill and there were ants all over my feet.  I know it is wrong but I kept thinking of parallels with the stations of the cross.  I compared myself to Simon, carrying the cross up the hill.  It was painful and I was hot, sweaty, sunburnt and exhausted before 10:00 AM.  With all that said, the coolest thing about the Stations of the Cross was that the group praying got larger as we walked through the Barrio.  It started as a small group of 20 people (above right) and concluded in the Chapel at the Sister's house with 60 or more people - standing room only (above right).

The day continued at a breakneck pace.  In the afternoon we opted to work at the house and skipped the 3 hours of Pascua Jovenes.  Mass was from 6:00-8:00 PM and then the Passion started.  I got home from the Passion at 12:00, Midnight.  Chelsey had fallen asleep while Christ was before Pontius Pilate and caught a ride home with the older Sisters who were also interested in going to sleep.  Sincere reflection – the Passion was really nice on Friday night.  I had just read (earlier in the day) the Passion in Matthew and it was a good exercise to have it acted out.  I cannot remember ever going to a Passion Performance in the past and I missed the Mel Gibson film.  It is definitely a good way to get focused on what is important at Easter time. 

Saturday (3-30-13) was similarly trying.  We spent the day preparing for a large Easter Party the Sisters were throwing.  Each year they alternate the venue and this year we were hosting.  All the Sisters from Encarnacion and also from Posadas, Argentina were going to be in attendance.  The day was spent in preparation for the Easter Fiesta and for Mass in the evening… 

At 6:00 PM we began Easter Mass (right).  I know that everyone experiences this Marathon Mass, but I think it is more pronounced in Spanish... 7 readings, 4 baptisms and 2:30 hours later we were singing the final song.  

Following this marathon we went next door for the final segment of “Pascua Jovenes”- the grand finale.  We were under the impression that the night would be a long one – from 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM.  At 1:30 AM, Hermana Marianna got out her Harp and started playing.  She is amazingly talented and I loved hearing it but, in the future, I would love to listen to the harp more during the day when people are supposed to be awake.  At some point, I started taking time stamped photos with my watch (above) to document the insanity that was happening.  I felt like I was watching a UL v. Notre Dame game from earlier in the year - HOW MANY MORE OVERTIMES CAN THERE POSSIBLY BE????  The party was still going strong at 2:30 AM when Chelsey and I had to go home. 

Chelsey was exhausted on Pascua (Easter) (3-31-13) and stayed at home (Mass the evening before had counted for Easter Mass) while I went to the small church in our Barrio for Mass.  When I returned home the house was in a flurry in preparation for the grand fiesta.  Sisters came from all over and we had a feast.  Pork, beef, chicken, sopa de Paraguay (traditional cornbread), vegetables, chipas (traditional bread), torta (cake) and helado (ice cream).  The day was spent sharing food, conversation around the table, and one final prayer service.  Everyone left around 5:00 and Chelsey and I crashed.

The week following Easter was a typical one.  We had Jardin everyday from 8:00-10:00 and then normal responsibilities in the afternoon.  We were blessed with a much needed rain day on Thursday and so our only responsibility was teaching English in the afternoon.

So, with a crazy two weeks, I have a few “take-aways” that I want to share:

1. “Relaxation and reflection” do not mean the same thing in all cultures.
2. Sometimes it is good to really dedicate some uninterrupted time in your life to thinking about your life (it might have been imposed this time around but I will try to replicate in the future).
3. Nuns have an unlimited source of energy.  If this source of energy could ever be bottled and sold it would put Red-Bull and Starbucks both out of business.  On top of this, you will NEVER hear a Nun complain about being too tired....I leave it to you to determine the source of their energy.