Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/174

 1 6 2 Journal of A merican Folk-Lore.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, or of the Christ on the cross. At evening, tapers are lighted before them, and through the open door the passer catches many a glimpse.

PALM SUNDAY.

On Saturday and on Palm Sunday, venders of palms may be seen everywhere in the Plaza, the market, and the churchyard. The palms may be sold in strips, or these may be plaited and braided into curious and quaint decorative forms. They are carried by their purchasers to the church for blessing. The procession of persons carrying these palms in the church is a pretty sight. After being taken home, a part of the palm may be burned, while the rest is fastened outside the house to door-posts or window lattices. There it remains until the following year as a reminder, and also as a pro- tection against lightning, pest, and bad spirits.

PASSION PLAY.

At Zapotlan the celebration, until lately, was as follows : — On Wednesday night there was a great procession. Th^ee death figures, made of cane and representing Ambrosio, Jesua, and the other, were carried on a platform. The bearers were all in white. They were led by a man walking, and ringing a great bell. After them came a band of twenty or thirty men : each carried a long pole, the lower end of which was supported by his girdle ; at the top of each pole was a wooden figure of Christ, white or black, these men carrying figures were called atolleritos. Next came large images of Christ displayed on wooden frameworks called armazones ; these were carefully made of fine wood, and each required for its carriage, and steadying by ropes, some twenty men : there were some twenty or thirty of these armazones, each representing a considerable expense. On Thursday the priest preached a sermon from an open-air pulpit. At the proper moment, to illustrate his sermon, — descriptive of the Passion, — the procession appeared. It consisted of the three deaths, the atolleritos, a band of men who were manacled, Christ, and Simon of Cyrene bearing the cross, Pharisees, Veronica with her sweat-cloth, and the armazones. The Pharisees were a motley crowd : they were Indians without shirts, with brimless hats, and with their drawers rolled up to their possible limit ; they were all smutted, and carried lances and clubs. The preacher pointed to one and another element in the procession and drew his lesson. In his excitement and grief he smote his face with his hand, and the whole crowd of auditors did the same in a paroxysm of grief. On Friday the same was done. On Saturday the programme was varied. A procession took place, in which the personages were images carried singly or in tableau groups.

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