One of the many sahumadoras in the Semana Santa procession
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Popayán claims to have the most extensive Semana Santa celebrations of the entire South American continent, and indeed, not only are their processions impressive, the crowd attending is enormous.
That evening, we were late for the procession, and when we arrived in the city centre, the streets were already filled with people. We quickly walked ahead of the procession by taking some backstreets, and ended up having a pretty good view close to the San Agustín church. The procession is a complicated celebration, including various figures. First, people cleaning the streets, and then a marching military band playing loud rhythmic music, followed by many platforms carrying religious images depicting scenes of the last day of Jesus. Each image of Jesus or the Virgin are preceded by sahumadoras, young, and often beautiful girls between 17 and 21 years old who carry a sahumerio in a bed of flowers: a kind of incense to purify the air. The long procession is accompanied on both sides of the street by catholics carrying candles, giving it all a fairy-like atmosphere. The procession stops at regular intervals, mostly to give the cargueros, the persons actually carrying the heavy loads of the platform and elaborate statues surrounded by candles, on their backs. Some friendly payaneses allowed me to stand on their chair so I could have a better view. The next day, we returned for the Viernes Santo or Good Friday processions, and made sure we were close to the Santo Domingo church several hours before the procession would start. The streets were already filling up with people. The procession was even more impressive than the day before, perhaps also because it carried images of Death and Jesus on the cross. Standing close to the procession, our ears were deafened by the military bands, but the views were fantastic. Whenever the procession halted, the silence was sometimes tangible. When, after a pause, the cargueros lifted their heavy load on their shoulders again, respect for them grew in the audience. Some of the images were inside a glass cage, but most were just carried around unprotected on their platforms. They appeared beautiful, with intricate cloth lying over their roofs, and real candles lighting up the platform. In between the passing pasos or platforms with images, we saw and heard choirs and orchestras, complete with rollable pianos, pass. Watching the entire procession pass takes up several hours, and is concluded by soldiers marching by - with guns on their shoulders and candles in their hands. After that, the streets behind the procession fill up with excited people. We returned home, passing the procession at another point, realizing that for the people actually in the procession, it took much more than a few hours since the procession moves ahead at such a slow pace. Our senses were more than satisfied with visual and sound impressions.
Read more about: Semana Santa Popayán
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