Semana Santa

In Mexico spring break or the holy-week (semana santa) means two things, one is beach, relax and crowded places and the other is more spiritual linked to the meaning in Christianity. There is Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta and the representation of the Passion of the Christ, like the one celebrated in Mexico city (Iztapalapa). But there are other places where things are little different. In the mountains in Nayarit (my home-state in Mexico), an indigenous group of people called Coras live, and they have their own semana santa, "la judea", where they mix their cosmogonic point of view good-evil with catholicism. Men paint themselves and use masks representing bad spirits. In that isolated place, the spaniard friars and fathers could not deliver their message quiet well, and people have their own version of things.

Nayarit no es solo mar y playa, en la sierra Madre Occidental del estado, los Coras celebran su propia semana santa, y le llaman la Judea, los hombres se pintan de colores y usan mascaras representando a los judios que crucificaron a Cristo, sin embargo imprimen su propia cosmogonia y hacen su propia version de los hechos.