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According to experts, in the world there are only two places where the ancient rituals of Holy Week are kept and where a special religious fervor is felt and perceived: Seville in Spain and Ayacucho in Peru. The collective dramatization carried out by the entire Ayacucho people for a week and a half, interspersed with the elements of their Andean and mestizo reality, magical religious syncretism, has achieved fame in Peru and abroad.



No other city has as many churches as Ayacucho, and that religiosity is also reflected in the fervor with which Holy Week is lived. The procession of the Holy Sepulcher on Good Friday night is spectacular (if one stays sober). All members of Ayacucho society, at all social levels, participate in some way in the various events of this unique and colorful religious and pagan festival. From the local authorities and through the Mayordomos of the eight main processions of the city; professionals and merchants; adults, youth and children; picturesque housewives and humble peasants, who, perhaps, express with greater emotion their faith and Christian piety.





Review of what happens day by day during Holy Week in Ayacucho.



Holy Monday or Lord of the Garden

It is a procession that leaves at seven o'clock at night from the Temple of the Good Death and goes to the Plaza Mayor, making a full turn. The anda is adorned with corn, pineapples and fruits; olive branches and a large number of candles are also placed. The procession symbolizes the Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Olives; in this there are no rockets, since it is about remembering an act of pain.



Holy Tuesday or Lord of the Sentence

In charge of the members of the Judicial Power. It leaves the Church of Bitterness, commemorates the capture and sentencing of Christ by the Jews. The image has his hands tied and with signs of having been tortured. The Mayordomos (members of the Judicial Power) lead this procession. On his way, he stops at fourteen stations to pray the Via Crucis, singing sacred songs in Quechua and Spanish.



Holy Wednesday or Procession of the Meeting

This is the procession that arouses the most emotion in the Ayacucho population. The image of the Nazarene Christ and the Sorrowful Virgin, separately, come out of the Temple of the Santa Clara Convent (described by Ricardo Palma in his story of ´´La Monja Alférez´´). Each one, in their own way and separated by a block or two, followed by hundreds of contrite faithful. Days before, the cloistered nuns prepare and dress the image of the Nazarene, which is venerated throughout the year.



Tradition says that the nuns cut the hair and beard that the Nazarene has grown. Starting in the afternoon, the residents and institutions of the city make the most showy and beautiful carpets of flowers and colored sawdust, in a kind of aesthetic competition, offered as the Nazarene passes.



The two images run through the streets that separate the Santa Clara Convent and the Plaza Mayor (Sucre park). They also participate, in smaller litters, San Juan and Verónica. Around eight o'clock at night they enter the Plaza



The litters of the Virgen Dolorosa, San Juan and la Verónica; finally the imposing Nazareno enters with great accompaniment. The Holy Week Knights Choir, made up of the best voices in the city, accompanies the entire procession, singing sacred songs at every corner.



On the perimeter of the Plaza, the walk of Verónica advances rapidly and meets the Nazarene; Both litters approach and bend over so that the woman "wipes" the blood and sweat of the Lord, leaving the footprints impregnated in the cloth used. Then, Veronica meets Saint John to inform him that she was with Jesus; Later, both of them go in search of the Virgin to communicate the sad news to her, showing her the cloth with which she would wipe the face of Jesus. Then the three go in search of the Nazarene, producing comings and goings of the images. Finally, the denouement and peak moment takes place at the corner of the Municipality with the old School of Fine Arts. The Virgin finds her son, and bows three times, recalling the road to Calvary. The images ´´conversan´´ for a long time, within a framework of general expectation, no Ayacucho has stayed in their homes, the population has taken over the entire Plaza and watched with emotion. In that space of time, the accompanying priests offer incense on behalf of the people, with songs that the parishioners sing, giving a very spiritual atmosphere. Then, the litters slowly leave the Plaza Mayor returning to the Temple of Santa Clara.



Holy Thursday

Between five and six in the morning masses are celebrated, churches are arranged and there is an internal procession in the temples of the Blessed Sacrament. The devotees boil the bowl with a set of aromatic herbs in a brazier, then the holy oils are consecrated; on this day the Bishop of Huamanga does the washing of twelve needy people.



The population and visitors flock to the temples that are adorned with loaves, grapes, ears of wheat and lambs of imagery. Likewise, in the Plaza Mayor typical food is sold and a large number of people come in family groups to taste these dishes. It is a day without processions; these are replaced by the tour of churches, which, in Huamanga, due to the proximity of one and the other, is very pleasant.

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