The Procession of Silence - Procesión del Silencio

 Just before sunset, on Good Friday, the 26th Annual Procesión del Silencio, made its way through the streets of Oaxaca.  It is a solemn and beautiful affair, one in which the statues from some of Oaxaca's churches are carried by parishioners over the cobblestoned streets in a large circle.  It begins at the  Templo Sangre de Cristo, goes up Macedonio Alcalá, cut over Xólotl, comes down García Vigil to  Independencia, and then back up Macedonio Alcalá to end where it started at Templo Sangre de Cristo.

 We arrived in late afternoon to watch the various groups assemble.

The crowds were large.   The figures that are carried out of the churches are beautiful and of museum quality.

They are securely placed on platforms often decorated with flowers.

Then led by flute and drum, the procession begins.

They are heavy, a burden willingly carried, often by barefoot supplicants.

One of the most dramatic groups are these hooded men who carry very heavy crosses the entire procession route.

I heard their rasping breathes as they passed by.

It is not just a one day affair.  They carry Christ all year long.

This beautiful woman has been one of the Brides of Christ the last six years.

Really, it is impossible to capture the beauty and ethereal quality of the event.  It a combination of the people, the icons and the silence that makes the whole thing otherworldly.  I will let the images speak for themselves.

More pictures to come.  And video in a couple of days.