Semana Santa

It’s only been within the past few years that I’ve started participating in any of the celebrations of Holy Week besides Mass on Easter, and nothing was like what I experienced here. Since Paraguay is a 87 percent  Catholic country, it was interesting to see how ingrained Catholicism is in the culture and how they celebrate. Plus, when you live with nuns it's pretty much your job.

Anything that lasts more than 4 hours in straight Spanish is a struggle for me, but each day I came away from Pascua Joven (an event for the young adults during Holy Week put on by our youth group and the youth group from barrio San Isidro) I was excited and glad that I experienced it. It was a great way to get more involved in the Easter celebration and to get to know people in our young adult group better. For Holy Thursday we went to the Pascua Joven and listened to songs and watched a presentation and then went to Mass. For Good Friday we had Stations of the Cross in the morning. Different families helped celebrate each station in front of their houses as we made our way through the neighborhood ending at the chapel. A really neat experience!  That night we went to the Good Friday service and then had a short activity at the Pascua Joven. Since the Easter Vigil Mass is long in English, I wasn’t exactly looking forward sitting through it in Spanish, but with the help of my bilingual missalette it was actually really wonderful. It begin with a fire outside and a candlelight procession into the church, and after, we had our biggest night of Pascua Joven with songs, snacks, dancing, and even a piñata. We didn’t get home until 3 a.m.! Luckily, time in Paraguay fell back for their daylight savings on April 8, so we got an extra hour of sleep for Easter. 

Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos)

Instead of each person having a palm branch people bring these bouquets.

Stations of the Cross around our neighborhood.

Procession into the chapel.

Pascua Joven 2012!

Popping the pinata.

One of the signs I made to decorate for Pascua Joven--The best place to be in the world is always where God wants me to be.

Dancing.

It wouldn't be a party without some squeegy cleaning.

Easter

The last time I missed Easter with my family I went to Mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Although it sounds like it would be great, a crowded Mass in a language I didn’t understand with tons of people around taking pictures wasn’t exactly for me. And, neither was our Easter dinner at McDonalds. This year, I still missed my family, but being in the presence of the sisters definitely made it easier. We began the day at 7 a.m. (after not going to sleep until 3:30 from the Pascua Joven) and headed to Posadas where we met the other sisters from Encarnación and Posadas to take what I like to call “The Nun Bus” to Jardín America to celebrate Easter. The food was different but delicious. The meat and the chimichurri sauce along with it was fantastic. Definitely going to get the recipe! Additionally, we could use the chimichurri as salad dressing, which was great because normally it’s just vinegar and oil. To top it off, we had cake and ice cream. After lunch, the sisters took Cailtin, Delma and me to visit a small waterfall nearby, Los Saltos, to get us in the spirit to visit the falls at Iguazú. Monday we stayed in Jardín America and got to talk to some of the students at the school about what we are doing and why we’re doing it. I was nervous at first when they asked us if we could speak, but with a little preparation the night before it was fun, especially the 17 and 18 year olds who actually had questions for us and didn’t seem bored. Monday afternoon I think the sisters may have forgotten that we were there. We had a rest time of 5 hours after lunch and literally did nothing else that day except check the bus schedules. Considering it was their first day back to school after Easter break, I don't really blame them. I guess it gave us time to prepare for Tuesday since we got up early (our bus left at 5:30 a.m.) and headed to Iguazú.

At Los Saltos

"Nun Bus"

 

 

The students at the sisters' school.

The sisters of Jardin America, Argentina.