Hanging Things on Hangman's Day   
 

Good Friday is a chosen day for planting everything, but especially beans.  

Fridays are good days for planting things that hang down, like beans and grapes, stringing things, because Friday is 'hang man's day.' 

Source: Journal of American Folklore, v. V (1892), p. 113. 
 
 

Why the Cottonwood Trembles  

The perpetual movement of the cottonwood-tree was explained by the same narrator as follows: 
"Well, chile, yer see dis was what my ole Miss useter tell me. Dem same kind er trees growed in dat garden whar der blessed Lord prayed der night afore he was crucified, an' when Judas cum dar along 'er dem soldiers ter 'tray der Lord an' take him erway ter nail him on der cross, dey done chop down one of dem trees and made der Savior ob der world tote it up ter Calvery. An' dey made der cross outen it, an' dem trees sensed how it was der blessed Lord what was gwine ter suffer an' die on one of 'em, and dey jus tuk ter tremblin' an' shiverin' with fear. An' dey never stop yit, an' never will while one of dem grows, kase dey is der kind er tree what der cross of Calvery were made of." 

Source: Journal of American Folklore, v. XVIII (1905), p.251. 
 

Why the Poplar Trembles  

Near Marquette, Mich., a mining superintendent, having occasion to lay out a road near a mine, suggested to the foreman, who, like his gang, was Irish, that the men should cut down some neighboring poplar-trees for corduroy. The foreman said that not a man of them could be hired to chop down one of those trees, that the men would as soon think of cutting off their own hands. "Don't you know," said he, "that the Savior's cross was made of that tree?" and added that you will never see a poplar- tree perfectly still. The idea apparently is that the tree is perpetually agitated or trembling because of the terrible use made of it at Golgotha. 

Source: Journal of American Folklore, v. XIII (1900), p.226. 
 

Penitentes Ghost Story  

A certain evening during holy week the Penitentes entered the church in Taos (New Mexico) for the purpose of flogging themselves. After flogging themselves in the usual manner, they left the church. As they departed, however, they heard the floggings of a Penitente who seemed to have remained in the church. The elder brother (ithermano mayor) counted his Penitentes, and no one was missing. To the astonishment of the other Penitentes, the one in the church continued his flagellation, and they decided to return. No one dared to reenter the church, however; and while they disputed in silence and made various conjectures as to what the presence of an unknown Penitente might mean, the floggings became harder and harder. At last one of the Penitentes volunteered to enter alone; but, as he opened the door, he discovered that the one who was scourging himself mercilessly was high above in the choir, and it was necessary to obtain a lighted candle before venturing to ascend to the choir in the darkness. He procured a lighted candle and attempted to ascend. But, lo! he could not, for every time he reached the top of the stairs, the Penitente whom he plainly saw there, flogging himself, would approach and put out his candle.  After trying for several times, the brave Penitente gave up the attempt, and all decided to leave the unknown and mysterious stranger alone in the church. As they departed, they saw the mysterious Penitente leave the church and turn in an opposite direction. They again consulted one another, and decided to follow him. They did so; and, since the stranger walked slowly, scourging himself continuously and brutally, they were soon  a short distance from him. The majority of the flagellants followed slowly behind; while the brave one, who had attempted to ascend to the choir, advanced to the side mysterious stranger and walked slowly by him. He did not cease scourging himself, though his body was visibly becoming very weak, and blood was flowing freely from his mutilated  back. Thus the whole procession continued in the silence of the  night, the stranger leading the Penitents through abrupt paths and up steep and high mountain. At last, when all were nearly dead with fatigue, the mysterious Pemtente suddenly disappeared, leaving his good companion and the other Penitents in the greatest consternation. The Penitents later explained that this was doubtless the soul of a dead Penitente who had not done duty in life,-a false Penitente,-and God had sent him back to to scourge himself properly, before allowing him to heaven. 

Source: Journal of American Folklore, v. XXIII (1910) pp. 407-408. 
 

Holy Week Riddle  

Source: Journal of American Folklore, v. XXVIII (1915) p.333. 

  

Holy Week in Tepoztlan  

Fiesta of Holy Monday and Holy Tuesday, celebrated in the parish church: These are days of great devotion. The religious associations are very active, visiting the church and barrio chapels. Many Tepoztecans choose these days for their annual confession.  

Fiesta of Holy Wednesday: Rigorous fasting begins. Meat is not eaten until the Saturday of Glory. Substitute foods are beans, huauzontle, tortas, stuffed peppers, fish, revoltijo, and lentils. All work must stop through the Sunday of Resurrection. Women prepare tortillas for the rest of the week. In the evening is the vigil of the Lord, the men taking turns all through the night. Women customarily go to church in the late afternoon to pray the thirty-three Credos, one for each year of Jesus' life. It is believed that those who do this will triple their earnings during the year.  

Holy Thursday: The church is full on this day. The priest dramatically describes the passion of Christ, and crying on the part of women is common. Not to do so is "to have a cold heart." In the afternoon is the ceremonial foot-washing of the apostles.  

Holy Friday: This is the culminating day of Holy Week. Throughout the village there is profound quietude. No one must run or shout or use bad words, so as not to offend the Lord. The men silently drink their ponche together while the women, dressed in black, go to church. On this day, children are not to be struck, for "it would be striking the Lord."  

Holy Saturday: At 7:00 A.M. the faithful of the village and the municipio go to the church where the priest pronounces the "Gloria in Excelsis Deo." With this all the bells, which have been silent since Wednesday, are rung, and joy spreads through the village. While the bells ring, old men trim their plants so that they will produce more, mothers snip the ends of their daughter's hair to make it grow longer, and children are struck on the legs to make them grow taller. Two or three comparsas are organized to dance on this day.  

Easter Sunday: Everyone dresses well and goes to Mass. Sometimes the chinelos leap in the afternoon. People stand in little groups in the plaza, and men drink a great deal.  
Source: Life in a Mexican Village: Tepoztlan Restudied by Oscar Lewis. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1963, p.460. 
 

Holy Week in Santa Cruz Etla  

Holy Week is for them a much more important celebration than Christmas. There is no work for four days. In the back alcove of the church at San Pablo there is a glass-covered coffin with a plaster model of the corpse of Jesus inside. He lies asleep, a crown of thorns on His head, blood staining His bare trunk. He seems pitiful, but the people love Him. On Good Friday, the people of both towns used to carry Him in a long parade with candles, up from the church to the Santa Cruz municipia and back; the bells of both schools were kept ringing for thirty-six hours, little boys tugging in shifts at the bell ropes. I am prone to wonder what has happened to this joint effort, with the one Holy Coffin, now that Santa Cruz Etla has its own church. A statue like that in a coffin must be very expensive, and Santa Cruz, taxedso hard for the completion of the church, could not hope to buy one for years. But its church is actually dedicated to the Holy Cross (the Santa Cruz) and not to a mere saint like San Pablo, and by rights the Easter parade should center in the Santa Cruz church. On Holy Saturday, the men play cards and pelota all day, but the women grind mole and chocolate, make tortillas, butcher hogs, and cook turkeys. A priest always comes to San Pablo for the five o'clock mass on Easter morning, and the rest of the day, Don a Patrocina said, is spent in eating all the good things prepared.  

Source: Santa Cruz of the Etla Hills by Helen Miller Bailey. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1958, pp. l24-l25. 
(Bailey is an American teacher who spent two terms teaching in Santa Cruz Etla and made several visits over a 20-year period.) 
 

Holy Week Judas passion play in Amatenango del Valle, Chiapas,  
Mexico, c. 1965  

In the role of the anti-Christ in the Passion Play in Arnatenango, Judas is unequivocally identified with Ladinos. His figure, made of hay stuffed into a pair of Ladino style pants, shirt and hoots, with a mask tied to his head and a felt hat such as that worn only by non-Indians, is a caricature of the Ladino.  

On Thursday of Holy Week, Judas is hauled up by ropes and hung from the bell tower "to show the world that he killed Christ." As he is raised aloft the mayordomos on the ground, who are assisting those up in the bell tower, jab him with long poles. In this horseplay they symbolically castrate him: I heard one mayordomo say "Mercvunun" (transvestite) as one well- directed blow struck Judas. On Saturday, he is let down and given a ride on horseback around town. Formerly, riding a horse was the prerogative only of Ladinos in the department of San Cristobal Las Casas ......... Placing Judas on a horse has possibly a rhetorical value in identifying this man as one of the hated dominant group who asserted this privilege. As he rides around town, the mayordomos solicit gifts from the people. Everyone gives fruits except the curers who donate money. This transaction may indicate an obligation they feel toward Judas as one source of their power over witchcraft-derived illnesses. The money is used to buy liquor, called "the washing of the arms and legs of our Lord Esquipulas," a reference to an origin myth which indicates that liquor was derived from the water used to bathe Christ when he was lowered from the cross. The drinking is mandatory for all the religious officials who have participated in the hanging of Judas.  

The Judas figure, which was the church's symbol of the hated semite, is subverted by the Indians to appear as their enemy Ladino. In the acts in which he figures he symbolizes the sexual license of Ladinos with Indian women, the oppressin Indians, and the killer of Christ. In retaliation, the Indians symbolically castrate and hang him, and finally burn his body, thus dramatically vanquishing the alien in their midst. The subversive implications of these acts are not recognized by the priest. However, he prevented the ride of Judas through the town during his presence because of its pagan association. The Indians rescheduled the act after his departure.  

Source: "The Passion Play in Maya Indian Conununities' June Nash, Comparative Studies in Society wid History, v.10  no.3 (1968), pp.318-327. 
 

Lenten processions and Holy Week in Zinzcantan  

Every Friday during Lent a procession forms inside the church of San Lorenzo and the crucified Christ image is tal:en in a slow circuit around the church. On the Fourth Friday, the procession is larger and goes out into the churchyard. On Monday of Holy Week the Sacristans buy after-shave lotion in San Cristobal which they will use on Wednesday to wash the image. The washing is done by the Alcaldes and the six Holy Elders, six old men who occupy these positions on a permanent basis whose major duty occurs during Holy Week. At noon on Good Friday the Alcaldes and the Holy Elders place the image on a large cross inside the church while the Sacristans sound wooden clappers and a choir chants Lenten hymns. From noon until 2 P.M. the church is thronged with Zinacantecos who come to bring candles and flowers and pray. Then by sundown the image is lowered and placed back in its bier. On Saturday the Mayordomos come to take down the cross and clean up the church. Easter Sunday resembles the third day of any fiesta with the Alfereces drinking and dancing their "dance of the drunks" in front of the church and being joined by the Mayordomos who engage in reciprocal drinking and then all go off to the houses of outgoing Alfereces for atole.  

Source: The Zinacantecos of Mexico: A Modern Maya Way of Life by Evan Z. Vogt. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1970, p.89. 
 

Holy Week in Mexico City  

... Thursday is the day to visit the altars at the different churches. These are beautifully ornamented with flowers and plants and lighted by hundreds of candles and electric lights. A flowers are so cheap and bountiful there, it is easy to secure great quantities of them. Thousands of people are seen going in and out of  churches all day long, and in reality some of the altars and temples are so artistically and prettily arranged that they are wondrously beautiful.  Good Friday is a solemn day; in former years no carriages or any kind of vehicles were allowed on the streets. This is not the case  at the present, still even now very few persons will play the piano or go to the theater or to a party on this day.  

 On Holy Saturday in the morning at ten o'clock the burning of Judas  takes place. This custom is observed a great deal, and more so in Mexico City than elsewhere. Toys made of cardboard representing men and animals, and having firecrackers fastened to them are sold in great quantities to children, who suspend these figures in the court-yards or corridors of their homes. At the stroke of ten, when the church-bells are heard, the children light and burn them. In some streets the laboring classes hang-up figures, sometimes even six or seven feet high, made of straw or rags and dressed to represent men. These also contain firecrackers and have fireworks attached to them. It is needless to say that there is a deafening noise when the burning of  Judas occurs, something which we when children used so much to enjoy seeing and hearing. This well-known custom of burning Judas is supposed to be done as a reminder and condemnation of the betrayal of Our Lord the Saviour by Judas, an apostle and one of His companions.  

Easter  is gay, and all the drives and streets are crowded with pleasure-seekers, also all the theaters and places of amusements. 

Source: When I Was a Girl in Mexico by Mercedes Godoy. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., 1919, pp. 48-50. 
 

Good Friday kite-flying 

Children compete in kite-flying on Good Friday. According to tradition, a teacher once explained Christ's Ascension to Heaven by flying a kite and cutting the string. Children still fly kites on Good Friday to remember this. 

The "Codfish and Banana Breakfast" 

Easter Breakfast is known as the "Codfish and Banana Breakfast." Salted cod is soaked overnight, then strained on Morning and boiled with small, whole potatoes. It is served with olive oil and mayonnaise topping. Sliced bananas complement the meal 
 
 

Source:Easter the World Over by Priscilla Sawyer Lord and Daniel J.Foley. Philadelphia: Chilton, 1971, pp.197-198.