Tonanzintla, Holy week

The town of Santa Maria Tonantzintla is located approximately 10 km southwest of the city of Puebla, and 4 km south of the center of San Pedro Cholula, in the municipality of Cholula, Puebla.

The name Tonantzintla comes from the Nahuatl words to, meaning "our" or "ours", nantzin, the suffix "tzin" denotes nobility, meaning "mother lady", and tla, meaning "next to" or "place of". Therefore, Tonantzintla means as a whole "Place of our Lady Mother".  Upon the arrival of the Spaniards, the name "Santa Maria" was added, in honor of the Virgin Mary.

During pre-Hispanic times there was a shrine dedicated to our little mother Tonantzin, Goddess of fertility, which was replaced by the current temple. The construction of the temple spans from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and keeps one of the richest jewels of Mexican baroque.

This small town lives the traditions of Holy Week in an intense and participative way.

The streets, some already decorated with sawdust painted with different designs throughout the route that a few hours later will be used by the Lord.  In some stretches, families still work under the sunbeam to decorate the ground with these colorful designs, others, water the sawdust path with water and a little bit of glue to prevent the wind from taking it away before its time.  People sweeping the streets, purple sighs at different points and chopped paper-plastic flies in the air decorating the streets.

The atrium of the temples of Santa Maria Tonantzintla, San Diego, San Miguel and San Pedro, all decorated with a structure covered with pine branches from which hang natural and paper made tropical fruits.

The temple, besides its particular beauty, has the additional attraction of being prepared for the religious festivities of the time, large columns with palms and branches of ocote, natural fruits hanging from the roofs (pineapple, mamey, watermelon, bananas, melons), I had never seen this practice in a religious festivity before.  The unique smell of pine, the prayers of the groups of people who accompany the Lord in turns while praying all dressed in colorful velvet cloaks and blanket clothes.  The music is varied, roosters and pigeons in their cages e and musicians accompanying the party.

The unmistakable smell of pine or sedge as they call the leaves in Chiapas reminded me of my Abuelita Esperanza, a native of San Cristobal de las Casas and the smell of the churches and my childhood vacations but that is another story....

Returning to Tonantzintla, inside the temple, vaults and domes with a countless number of brown children mingling among tropical fruits, flowers, birds, foliage, cobs, etc.. Merging the Christian and indigenous religion. There is no place without decoration, made, as explained to us in the tour with stucco made with mud, natural dyes and cactus slime, technology that is still in force in adobe construction (except for the use of natural ingredients as dyes).   Many of the colors, the most protected from natural light, are still the original ones, Mexican blue, pink, red, green, orange and more.

     

The pulpit, small, decorated with gold leaves and chili, chili? yes, chiles that adorn and demonstrate the richness and cultural diversity of the place.

On the outside, the facade shows a multicolored ceramic puzzle that adorns each point. However, nothing compares to what awaits you inside.

Because internal photos are forbidden, the ones attached were obtained from the Internet.  The external ones, are photos that I took.

It is Holy Thursday 2012, I hear music and percussions, yes, they are the Romans, probably high school children, characterized as Romans and marching to the rhythm of drums and flutes, singing a melody that is repeated over and over again for several hours.  The various groups of Romans and Pharisees, go through the few small streets of the town several times, under intense sun and heat until they burst into the church looking for Jesus, they do not find him the first and second time.

  

The whole town is gathered together waiting for the moment when Jesus is taken out of the temple, it is until the third attempt when they find him and take him out accompanied by lamps, music and a procession (of the whole town) that travels the sawdust road to the point where he will be judged and put in prison in the dungeon.

The Romans and the people in expectation...

Leaving the church...

The people accompany him on his journey

Walking through the streets on the sawdust carpet...

 

We were only there on Maundy Thursday, we did not witness the trial and the Stations of the Cross, which, as you know, takes place on Good Friday. A highly recommended experience to experience live.

TIPS:  

1. Have cheese cemitas or serrano chili stuffed with cheese for breakfast.  
2. Have dinner in a typical Puebla restaurant and order mole with chicken and rice. 
3. Buy poblano talavera pottery.
4. Taste poblano sweets: sweet potatoes, tortas de santa clara , macaroons, among others.

CURIOUS FACT:

The church of Santa Maria Tonantzintla has no priest, the people are responsible for the church and bring outside priests to officiate mass.  They take care of it and maintain it.