Monday, June 16, 2008

Processions after church on Father's Day

Amazingly, on Father's Day we had SUN! Here's some pictures of the processions that three different groups put on for the celebration.



Some leaders of the group of devotees of the Lord of the Ascention. These devotee groups are usually people who have all moved to Lima from the same area in the sierra, and get together to honor their particular version of Christ ("Lord of such-and-such") or the Virgin Mary ("Virgin of this-or-that.")



Some of the teenage dancers in the procession put on by the Lord of Cachuy (?) group. This is a good view of the back of the anda, the decorated image they put up on these table-like things and carry around on their shoulders. They bring them to Mass and put them in the church aisles.
Sometimes an anda will arrive after Mass has started, with its accompanying brass band BWA-ing with all its might so you can hear them coming from several blocks away. Then they're quiet during the service, just standing there in their uniforms with the beautiful brightly colored banners, until the moment of the consecration: when the priest elevates the host, the brass band strikes up again from outside and plays a whole little triumphant ditty. I always forget they're going to do this and it makes me jump every time. Not exactly what I imagine as an appropriately solemn (or even beautiful, let alone subtle) acknowledgement of the central moment of the Mass... but you have to give them credit for enthusiasm.


When I asked the dancers to take a picture with me, they dressed me up!! :)



another anda and its carriers


I dare any American man to go outside in this outfit.



milling around waiting for the dancing to start (there was a lot of that)


dancing

These two guys with masks, robes, and what seems to be feathers, did a dance in which they went around in a circle whipping each other's legs. With whips. Your guess is as good as mine.




The anda and the band, finally marching. Another thing they do is set off firecrackers during these processions... except there's usually no light, just a freaking huge BANG that makes me think somebody is shooting at the anda from about ten feet away. I jump, the Peruvians laugh... These processions eventually end up at the devotional group's meeting place (someone's house?), where they take full advantage of modern sound technology, blasting the harps and violins of their traditional huayno music to the entire neighborhood for the next twelve hours. (My friend Celina's family runs a business renting sound equipment out for these events--they may be held in locales without running water or fully roofed-over rooms, but they've got their speakers, microphones, and subwoofers working just fine.)


Me, the guy with the whip, and his son (Mini-avenging archangel?). (the son did not take part in the whipping-dance.)

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