Corpus Christi

Or body of Christ.
The feast day which commemorates
The gift of the Eucharist, which occurred
During the last supper,
The Thursday before Easter.
That’s the short version.
But here, it is also another day to celebrate
By decorating the town in red velvet and gold

Constructing altars in the entry of colonial doorways

Red and white satin curtains
Hang in the entrances of the portales
Flags across the streets.

More satin flags across the street,
Reminiscent of the modern renaissance fairs.

At 3:00, traffic is still being let through.
The  town is being decorated.
One of the wonders of this town – at least to me,
Is how they set up a major event,
Elaborately decorate the entire centro parade route,
Then pull off a beautiful procession
With full regalia,
The men in white shirts & black pants,
Wearing satin ribbons on their arms,
Carrying Jesus’ coffin.
Younger men in white shirts and jeans,
Carrying candles.
Little girls dressed as angels,
Priests under red velvet awnings,
Statues of saints,
Floral Altars,
Satin altars with the nino Jesus
Flowers covering Jesus’ body,
In an elaborately decorated coffin
Trumpets playing slow, sad, funeral songs,
Women in black
Groups of girls dressed in indigenous clothing,
Thousands of people participating.
Thousands watching
All in a five or six hour period.
I’m sure I have forgotten something.

Afterward, the clean up crews
In their blue and orange suits
Whisking the streets
With their rustic brooms,
Follow the end of the procession,
Cleaning everything up
In less than a half an hour.

I don’t know why,
But I just don’t feel like going back into town today,
Even to watch this beautiful procession.

While I have been sitting here writing this,
The church bells have been ringing the entire time.
Several years ago, I documented this
On my store blog, in photos
Here’s the link
For the 2007 photo journal of this procession.