Semana Santa procession schedule in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia

San Joaquín, located 4 km. west of Heredia, is well-known for its Easter Processions, particularly the one on Friday morning.  Local residents practice during the weeks beforehand and arrive costumed and in character for the processions.  (Several other communities have processionals and many of them are covered on TV.)

Maundy Thursday, March 20

7:30 PM  Procession commemorating Jesus’ capture in the Garden of Gethsemane beginning at the church in Llorente (south of the main road going through San Joaquin)

Good Friday, March 21

9:00 AM  Procession of the Twelve Stations of the Cross beginning at the church in Llorente and processing to the central church (2 blocks north of the main street going through town)

3:00 PM  Crucifixion re-enactment at the central church

Saturday, March 22

4:00 PM  Procession of silence at the central church

7:00 PM  Easter vigil and burning of Judas in effigy at the central church

Easter Sunday, March 23

3:00 PM  Communion and procession commemorating the resurrection at the central church

Note: Saturday evening, often referred to as Judas Night, is a time when some young people participate in vandalism and violence.  Police are aware of this and their presence is more evident on this evening.

Semana Santa preparations

Several homeowners are now displaying crosses draped in purple in their front yards in anticipation of Holy Week, Semana Santa.  Processions and re-enactments will begin Friday morning and continue throughout the weekend.  (Photos to be posted.)  Government offices are closed all week, bus service is limited (on Thursday) and no alcohol is available for purchase during the weekend.  This is a week when there is a mass exodus for the beach.  If you are planning to go there, avoid returning to the Central Valley on Sunday, if you can.   The autopista will be like a parking lot.

Community festivals

Each community in Costa Rica has an annual celebration of some sort under the guise of recognizing a patron saint, fruit, vegetable, harvest, horse, you name it. These celebrations can be a few days or a few weeks and are often accompanied by processions throughout the neighborhood led by a priest chanting over a megaphone at 5:00 AM! (Yes, at 5:00 AM.) The larger festivals have several food booths offering delicious ethnic foods and beer tents serving up local libations such as Imperial, Pilsen, Heineken, Bavaria and Rock Ice. For those who like their beverages a little “harder,” there is always guaro, a clear, potent liquid best consumed in small quantities (if consumed in large quantities you won’t remember doing so, I’ve been told). Our little barrio is having a celebration right now. Amusement park rides and food stands have been set up on the soccer field in front of the church. Because it is the rainy season, there are large ruts in the newly sodded “cancha” (field). Although I live more than a block away, I can hear the music (kumbia at the moment) as if it were in my own home. Fortunately, the city makes it stop at 11:00 PM. By then you are more than ready to pull the plug on the generator feeding juice to the sound system.

Our community in the US had an annual celebration to recognize the defeat of Jesse James (how many towns can claim that honor?!). Each year the “townies” would walk among the food booths in the evenings, reconnecting with friends they hadn’t seen since the previous celebration. Sharing greasy food (corndogs, onion rings and funnel cakes), stories and laughter was a tradition not to be missed. The Lions club served turkey legs, the Knights of Columbus dipped corndogs, Kiwanians served tacos and the Legion Club managed the ever-popular bingo tent. It always made me smile to see all ages rubbing shoulders as they sat on recently constructed benches made of boards and concrete blocks. No matter their ages, they all listened intently for their numbers to be called so they could be the one to shout “bingo.” On Sunday there was an enormous parade that lasted over two hours and was attended by people from all over the state. Americana at its finest. I imagine the people here look forward to their festivals with the same anticipation and back on them with the same nostalgia. Tiquicia at its finest.