Semana Santa, also known as Holy Week, is a famous holiday celebrated in many Spanish speaking countries. Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, and Spain are a few for example. Every country celebrates this holiday in a unique way. This holiday usually lasts for one week starting from Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) through Easter Sunday (Pascua). During the week, there are daily mass services in the Catholic Church. The seven main days are: Palm Sunday, Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.
“There are about 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide; more than 40% live in Latin America.” Being a catholic, we believe in one God and his son, Jesus Christ. God sent down his begotten son, who died on the cross so that all of our sins will be forgiven. However, this has happened hundreds of years ago. We also believe in the Holy Trinity where God is three persons: The Father, The Son (Jesus) and The Holy Spirit. Therefore, we make the sign of the cross. This is taking your right hand and making a cross, first touching your forehead, then down to your chest, to your left then right shoulders. The sign of the cross is mostly used during mass and when praying.
Nowadays, we have many authorities of the church, who are the pope, bishops, priests and laities. There are many bishops, priests and laities all over the world, but there is only one pope who is in charge of all Roman Catholic Churches. The pope is the person that God has chosen to speak for him to the people. To choose the next pope, he is elected by all the Cardinals, who are the leading dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church. Whoever has the most votes is elected to be the next pope. The most recent pope is Pope Francis, who was ...
... middle of paper ...
...day, this is the fortieth day. Catholics are not supposed to eat any meat on Fridays during lent. Why? Our Lord and Savior gave up his own body, his own flesh on a Friday hundreds of years ago. It reminds people of the day he sacrificed his life for the people. Since they can’t eat meat, most people replace it with fish and other seafood.
In conclusion, Semana Santa is a very important and relevant topic to learn about while learning the Spanish language. It gives me a little of history and background which can probably benefit me more in this class. This topic is not something I’ll particularly learn in class but it’s always good to learn something new. It is also very important to learn if I wanted to go and visit any Hispanic country during the time of Holy Week. However, if the subject did come up during class, I’d already know some pretty good facts about it.
"After Mexico gained it's independence from Spain in 1821, it faced internal power struggles that left it in a volatile state of rebellion and instability for years." In 1846, the Mexican government, under the dictator Santa Anna, went to war with the United States. As an outcome of that war, Mexico lost a large amount of land--the land we now know as Texas. In 1854, Juan Alvarez and his troops led a successful revolt to drive Santa Anna out of power. One of Alvarez's strongest supporters was a man by the name of Benito Juarez, a Zapotec Indian leader. In 1855, Juarez became the minister of Justice under the new regime and issued two new controversial laws. One denied the right of the church and military courts to try civilian cases and the other made the sale and distribution of church lands legal. Many people disagreed with these laws and for three years a civil war raged between the two sides. In 1861 Juarez took control of the capital, Mexico City, and put his new Constitution into effect. Not only had Juarez's laws split the country, they had caused the civil war that left Juarez in debt to Spain, England, and France. The three countries were concerned about the debt, so they held a meeting in London, at which Spain and Britain decided to waive the debt in exchange for military control of the Custom House in Vera Cruz. France did not agree to these terms and invaded Mexico in 1861 in hopes of defeating the country and disposing of Juarez. The French troops--deemed among the best trained and equipped in the world--marched into the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862, expecting no resistance. The French army consisted of 6,000 men under the command of Marshal Lorencz. The French were met by an armed force of 2,000 peasants under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza. The Mexican guerilla forces successfully defended their positions and attacked and drove back the French forces. Victory, however, was short lived. Within a year, France had successfully conquered Puebla and the rest of Mexico, and went on ruling there until 1867 when Juarez was once again restored to power. He ruled the country until his death in 1872. Cinco de Mayo, therefore, does not celebrate Mexico's independence, rather it symbolizes "the right of the people to self determination and national sovereignty, and the ability of non-Europeans to defend those rights against modern military organizations.
The 5th of May is not Mexican Independence Day, but it should be! And Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it should be. Mexico declared its independence from mother Spain on midnight, the 15th of September, 1810. And it took 11 years before the first Spanish soldiers were told and forced to leave Mexico.
Alain de Botton, in his TED talk “Atheism 2.0”, identified various attributes from religions that he thinks atheism, the non-religious community, would do well to emulate. Of these attributes, one that stood out was how all religions, almost as a universal rule, each have a calendar by which believers adhere to. These calendars typically mark days, or even weeks, that carry some importance and meaning to followers of a given religion, and serves as a reminder for the values of which these religions stand for. For instance, the Christian calendar has a season of Lent, whereby Christians all over the world choose to give up worldly comforts and fast for a period a little longer than a month, as a time for self-reflection and penance to prepare for Easter. Members of these religions all across the world would be able to stay synchronized regardless of any geographical limitations using a unified calendar. According to Botton, having a calendar that is observed by all followers of the religion enables the religion to be “multinational, branded, and possessing an identity so they don't get lost” (de Botton). Therefore, it is unsurprising how the secular world have adapted various religious holidays and integrated it into their own culture.
Christmas is a very important celebration in most parts of the world. It is an annual festive celebration where families come together. In Mexico La Navidad is one of the most special celebrations that include many different events. Christmas in this part of the reign is not a one-day celebration; it starts on December 9 and ends January 6. Some of the most popular celebrations during Christmas are Las Posadas, La Cena de Nochebuena, and Los Reyes Magos.
... preparation of the celebration of Jesus’ birth and his second coming. This leads all the way up to Christmas Eve, and ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Then, Lent occurs: the preparation time that the believer takes to reflect upon their religious practices and values. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, and ends on Holy Thursday. Holy Thursday marks the beginning of the Easter Triduum. The Easter Triduum includes: Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday. The significance of the Easter Triduum is honoring: The Last Supper, death, burial, and resurrection. After the Triduum, Pentecost follows; during this time we honor the descent of the Holy Spirit, which is known as the Ascension of Jesus. After the Ascension of Jesus, we enter Ordinary Time. This Liturgical Season is followed closely by Catholics, this is a prime example of living out their faith.
In my Spanish 103 class, I have learned a lot about the Hispanic culture. I have looked at the similarities and differences in Hispanic and US culture. In this essay, I will be seeing the similarities and differences in holidays in each culture. Specifically Christmas, Easter, Holy Week, and specific holidays to each culture. I will show how each culture celebrates it then compare and contrast each holiday.
Many holidays and traditions are the same in the US and Spanish-speaking countries. The Institute of Language listed New Year as a “Celebration of the beginning of the year”, Easter as
...elebration where it features a Mass with a rosary and a musical festival which includes food. Every year according to director of the Hispanic Ministry Office of the Catholic Diocese in New York, Sonia Casanova, the event gets bigger every year. The L.A. Fiesta Broadway event for Cinco de Mayo was expected to recognize Mexican American culture as well as bringing together the community. Also during Cinco de Mayo, there are speeches by elected officials and an education program. During the Feast of San Juan Bautista, the locals gather at the beach to cast off evil energies in Puerto Rico and in New York, the Puerto Ricans attend mass and have an award ceremony where a medallion is given to a community leader who has been outstanding overall. For National Puerto Rican Day, the parade thrown every year brings the community together to celebrate Puerto Rican culture.
The roots for this celebration can be found in other literary celebrations and programs, including Children’s Book Week and National Library Week as well as summer reading programs and programs like Every Child Ready to Read. Typically these programs seek to focus attention on the joy of reading, sharing books, and encouraging literacy.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest body of Christians in the world. Catholics are concentrated more heavily in North America, Europe and South America than any other place. The traces of the beginning of the Catholic Church began about A.D. 30; this is the time when Jesus Christ was mandating his apostles to spread the teachings about the Kingdom of God. (Gills Web). Catholics have the belief that Christ inaugurated the church to carry to his people the salvation that he had brought to the world. They also believe that with the aid of God they have managed to preserve his teachings. Belief in God’s revelation is religious faith. Some beliefs that the Roman Catholic’s acquire are the Trinity and creation, Sin, the Incarnation, and salvation, Life after death, Worship and Baptism, Confirmation, and Mass. (Gills Web). Trinity and creation is where Catholics presume there is only one God. This one God exists of a unit of three persons – The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three persons form the Holy Trinity. (Gills Web) Although this is true there is still only one God.
... day marks the day of Jesus’ resurrection where he came back to life and went to heaven.
First, there were the ordinary believers, the citizens of the kingdom who followed the Christian faith. Then there was the clergy, the members who devoted their lives to the church. Each group of the clergy was assigned specific functions by the clergy nobles to help run the Church competently. Amongst all the clergy associates, the Pope was at the top, he had the equivalent if not more power than the ruling monarch and was in charge of all political affairs and administered the clergy. He was able to dictate political laws and even comment on the monarch’s decisions.
...days to remember great saints, and so forth. They also have a couple that are specific to their own history, including the celebration of Reformation Day on October 31st, generally regarded as the day when Martin Luther launched the Reformation. Interestingly enough, it coincided with All Saints Day celebrations, where the Church remembers all who have died in Christ with the hope of salvation and redemption.
La Semana Santa is a holiday celebrated in most Spanish speaking countries but it originated in Spain. It takes place the entire week prior to Easter or, in Spanish, Pascua. They celebrate their Christian traditions on this very important holiday. During this week, the city is very busy. All of the businesses close their shops for Semana Santa, but the bars and restaurants stay open.
In Western Christian religions, Lent is observed for six weeks and four days. Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, gets its name from the practice, mostly in the Roman Catholic church, of putting ashes on the foreheads of the faithful to remind them that "man is but dust." Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, celebrates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Holy Week begins on this day. Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday, is in memory of the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples. Good Friday remembers the crucifixion.