Holy Week is the most important religious festival for San José de Chiquitos

From the Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday of Resurrection, the Catholic population of San Jose de Chiquitos participate in the different ceremonies and liturgical rites in the Jesuit Missionary Complex and other places where the life, passion and death of Jesus of Nazareth are traditionally staged. This year, the activities are being planned following the tradition.

A great mobilization is felt in the peaceful town of San José on the days of lent, prior to the most important religious festivity of the Cultural Calendar of the Cuna de la Cruceñidad. The dynamic participation of the Josesana parishioners in the organization gives an atmosphere of religiosity to their daily life.

Institutions, organizations or characters that stand out, due to the work they perform or the way in which they express their faith, prepare to remember the sacrifice of the son of Godwho was immolated to redeem us from our sins.

The members of this native institution, led by the Cacique General, play an important role on this occasion, collaborating in the elaboration of the candles, the collection of palms from the El Riquío mountain range, for Palm Sunday. The cacique has already designated the musicians who will play the roll of drums and the waving of the jubilee flags at Ramos and Easter.

The natives are also in charge of arranging the altars in Bethany and the meeting point of the resurrected Jesus with the Virgin Mary, braiding and forming bows with motacú hearts.

The Josesan authorities already prepare their characteristic white uniform and palm hat to participate in all the celebrations, especially on Holy Wednesday when the Corregidor carries the banner and makes it wave vigorously after the procession.

The brotherhood of the Alférez or Los Cruceros is the organization that imposes order and discipline in each ceremony, especially in the processions. They ensure that the tradition is fulfilled to the letter, for this reason they are mobilized to clean the temple and maintain the images of the saints, Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, the same ones that are carried on a litter by the processional circuit.

The cruisers also prepare their formal suits and the white stole that covers the chest and back, from the left shoulder to the right part of the waist. The medium cross that complements the uniform, each member of the brotherhood retouches and paints it on their own to have it ready.

Parish Choir and Native Musicians

The teacher Martha Rodríguez de Aliaga, together with the members of the Parish Choir, prepare guitars. boombos, violins and organ, instruments that together with the voices of some artists and nuns of the town liven up the celebrations.

The presence of cashiers, flute players and solfa from the Casa de Bastón play a very important role in the festivity, because they create an atmosphere of meditation and devotion, with their funeral musical performances. The roll of boxes and the whistling of the flutes, with chords used at precise moments within the ceremonies, rhythms that have been interpreted for more than three centuries, stir even the most intimate fiber of religious feeling.

Songs like “Forgive your people, sir”, Anautiña and Salves are already being rehearsed.

The organizations of the church and the neighbors of the altars

Ladies who are members of The Legion of Mary, Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Youth Group are also involved in the activities. they follow the tradition of meeting in the parish to help clean the church and arrange the images that every nights of procession leave in litters. The Nazarene carrying the cross, María Dolorosa, Saint John the Apostle, the crucified Christ, the Risen Jesus, The Holy Sepulcher and the empty Cross. These images that are already being conditioned.

The residents of the neighborhoods that are part of the processional circuit and who live near the places where the 4 altars are arranged, are preparing the necessary elements so that when the time comes, they can be accommodated with the greatest possible dedication.

As the parents instilled it jesuitas, the formto assemble the altar is done under an awning – flat ceiling – with the inscriptions JHS.

The peal of the bells in Palm Sunday and Easterin addition to the roll of the matraca on Good Friday, they entrust it to Juan Carlos Ignacio Román Heredia, a skilled and old personage that, from small, carries out this activity and that, with the course of the years, has been perfecting it.

ñecoas he is popularly known, for this festivity comes out of anonymity and becomes an important character of the Josesano people. The rattle is already ready.

He carries a heavy and enormous cross in front, dressed in a white tunic and with a crown of thorns on his head. a deadleather rail that hangs from his neck serves as a seat for the wood and a nailor similar to the one that was introduced into the hands and feet at the NazarEno, embedded in the lower part of the cross, serves as a support to balance it.

The Sundays of Lent, the Sunday of Ramos, in addition to Wednesday and Holy Thursday, faithful from hair to chest take turns, who are encouraged to keep promises in this way.

This year, San José expects the visit of thousands of posokas (visitors) who are actively involved in each traditional ceremonial.

Stock Photos: Limber Cambarto