Semana Santa

Holy Week has begun. Last year, I believe I mentioned the various drunken beach parties that “holy week” is known for here in the Dominican Republic. However since the majority of the country is Catholic, there are of course various religious services during this week as well, so I’ll focus on those these year.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, or Dia de los Ramos. Everyone took some sort of tree branch (not necessarily a palm, although mine was) to the baseball field at 6:30 in the morning. We all crowded in a circle around the priest, holding our branches high in the air. The priest then came and sprayed (noticed the verb term is not sprinkled, but sprayed) holy water on us and the tree branches. Then we sang and walked to the church, and started the normal Sunday mass. We’re all supposed to save our branches since they are now holy, but I have no idea what I’m saving it for.

I was looking forward to the Maundy Thursday service because Concord Presbyterian back in Statesville usually does a drama of the last supper and since Dominicans LOVE acting in dramas, I assumed they would do the same thing. They didn’t. It was just a normal Catholic mass (scheduled to start at 8 p.m., but the priest arrived at 8:45), with one exception. The church reserved the first two pews for all the men in attendance, and then the priest washed their feet just as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. I thought it was just a little gender-inappropriate that only the men were allowed to participate in this part of the service when the majority of the people in attendance were women (I’d say the men-to-women ration was 1-to-5), but no one else seemed to notice.

Holy Friday was an interesting day. The national laws on this day are that: 1) people are not allowed to eat meat (but they can eat fish); the big food tradition is to make habichuelas con dulces (or sweetened red beans). In my refrigerator, there is about four pounds of sweet beans that all the various neighbors have given me. 2) No music is allowed to be played (the police can confiscate the radios if they hear it), and 3) there is not to be a Catholic mass. The congregation did meet at the church in the afternoon, where they had informal prayers and then walked around Baoba visiting the sick and elderly.

Apparently the Saturday before Resurrection Sunday is the big church service here in the Dominican Republic. There were probably 100 people (which is about double the normal attendance) who participated in the service. We all met in the basketball court and lit candles. Then walked to the church, blew out the candles and had a 2 hour Catholic mass. The service was pretty basic – the priest read the bible, we prayed, the choir sang, and communion was passed – except for one thing: the blessing of the water. Everyone had brought 2-liter plastic bottles filled with basic (amoebic) water and placed the bottles on the alter in the front of the sanctuary. The priest then blessed the water, converting it into holy water, and then he walked around and sprinkled the congregation with holy water as well. After the service, everyone rushed up to grab their bottle of water (and like with my blessed palm branch), I have no idea what people do with their own personal bottle of holy water.

The Easter Sunday service turnout was surprisingly pitiful. The mass was at the normal hour (7:15 a.m.), and I was about one of twenty people who went. I guess the congregation figured that if they went to church the night before, why go the following morning?