{"id":57166,"date":"2017-04-15T22:31:58","date_gmt":"2017-04-16T03:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=57166"},"modified":"2017-04-15T22:31:58","modified_gmt":"2017-04-16T03:31:58","slug":"sawdust-carpets-cushion-nicaraguas-streets-on-good-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/sawdust-carpets-cushion-nicaraguas-streets-on-good-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Sawdust carpets cushion Nicaragua’s streets on Good Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mariah Quintanilla<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boaco, Nicaragua<\/strong> – Nicaraguans marched across colorful sawdust carpets alongside their savior in the final carrying of the crosses Friday during the Catholic Holy Week.<\/p>\n

The bright, fluffy carpets lined the lower main street of Boaco, a municipality in central Nicaragua with the slogan, \u201cThe city of two floors.\u201d The “bleeding” crosses, orange suns, hearts, flowers and birds each represented the stations of the Viacrucis procession, signifying Jesus\u2019 final walk toward crucifixion.<\/p>\n

The procession began at 5 a.m. on Good Friday, and came to a climax a few hours later as hundreds of people reached three wooden crosses perched at the top of the main street\u2019s steep incline.\u00a0 About 250 Boacans shuffled behind local parishioners to the beat of slow drums and trumpets, as they hoisted a life-sized statue of Jesus from carpet to carpet. Four women carried a smaller statue of the Virgin Mary nearby. The parishioners, dressed in purple smocks, laid the statue on each of about eight sawdust carpets. The priest then said a prayer over loud speakers, while the people repeated his words in unison.<\/p>\n

\"alfombra-and-table\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Nicaraguans work nearly all night hand-laying the sawdust carpets before the procession.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"alfombra-street\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
The sawdust mats are stations in the Viacrucis procession, which represents Jesus’ walk toward crucifixion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"woman<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/figure>
\"parishioners<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Parishioners place the life-sized statue of Jesus on each carpet along the procession.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"procession-coming-down-hill\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Around 250 people gather for the Viacrucis procession on Good Friday in Boaco.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"sun-alfombra\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

Miriam Espinoza and her two small children watched the procession as it passed by her doorway. \u201cThe procession signifies the Lord\u2019s Passover, and that he wants us to follow him, so that we be nearer to him with fasting and prayer\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Designing sawdust carpets is a common tradition around the world during Good Friday, originating in Germany and later adopted by Catholics in Central America. The night of before Good Friday, a smaller group of dedicated Boacans walked somberly beside a blindfolded Jesus statue dressed in white in the \u201cProcession del Silencio,\u201d or the procession of silence. Once this procession concluded, the people of the town created symbolic pictures from green, red and orange sawdust they laid by hand until 3 a.m.<\/p>\n

The priest who lead Friday\u2019s procession in Boaco, Monsignor Leonardo Rodr\u00edguez, expressed his reverence for the congregation\u2019s dedication to their faith in an interview with the Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa<\/a>. \u201cI want to thank the people who have taken pains to make these carpets, which demonstrates the commitment our faithful have to our Lord Jesus Christ,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was his first time as priest to lead the procession over the carpeted streets. \u201cIt is a new experience for me to see carpets in this city, very beautiful. \u00a0We hope that this art is maintained and disseminated by the people who make them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The procession concluded at Parroqia Nuestra Se\u00f1ora del Perpetuo Socorro, the larger and more modern of two churches in Boaco. By late afternoon, the streets were swept clean, without a trace of the\u00a0vibrant\u00a0mats that cushioned the holy figure just hours before.<\/p>\n

Photo at top:\u00a0 About 250 Boacans shuffled behind local parishioners to the beat of slow drums and trumpets, as they hoisted a life-sized statue of Jesus from sawdust carpet to carpet. (Mariah Quintanilla\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mariah Quintanilla Boaco, Nicaragua – Nicaraguans marched across colorful sawdust carpets alongside their savior in the final carrying of the crosses Friday during the Catholic Holy Week. The bright, fluffy carpets lined the lower main street of Boaco, a municipality in central Nicaragua with the slogan, \u201cThe city of two floors.\u201d The “bleeding” crosses, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":57181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,28,30],"tags":[3878,192],"class_list":["post-57166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-chicago","category-general-interest","category-public-affairs","tag-holy-week","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"\nSawdust carpets cushion Nicaragua's streets on Good Friday - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/sawdust-carpets-cushion-nicaraguas-streets-on-good-friday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sawdust carpets cushion Nicaragua's streets on Good Friday - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Mariah Quintanilla Boaco, Nicaragua – Nicaraguans marched across colorful sawdust carpets alongside their savior in the final carrying of the crosses Friday during the Catholic Holy Week. 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