Photos: Cuba News 360
Text: Hugo Leon
As happens every year in the Guanabacoa municipality of the capital, hundreds of faithful joined the streets today in a procession that celebrates the Via Crucis on Good Friday, an important event of the Catholic liturgical year.
On this occasion, the procession started from the church of La Candelaria of the Santo Domingo Convent and toured several streets of the municipality, ending in the Guanabacoa Parish, which is in its most central area.
A team of Cuban News 360 The Via Crucis followed, in which between 200 and 300 people took part and lived the steps of this Catholic rite, which includes 14 stations or episodes of the Passion of Christ.
The expression “via crucis”, in fact, means “way of the cross”.
This solemn moment is part of Holy Week, seven days in which the last days of Jesu s’ life are commemorated, from his entry into Jerusalem, through the last supper, his crucifixion and Resurrection Sunday.
Although in the popular imagination the municipality of Guanabacoa is commonly associated with the Yoruba religion and its rites, a strong Catholic tradition also persists in that capital territory, arrived with the Spanish and rooted for centuries among its inhabitants.
As part of Guanabacoa’s Via Crucis, a nearly 200-year-old representation of the Virgin Mary was also taken out for the procession, according to those present.
Good Friday has been a holiday on the island since 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI visited the country and asked the government to recognize this day as a holiday.
This year the Via Crucis of the Vatican is celebrated under the title “Voices of peace in a world of war”, and due to his state of health and the cold temperatures, Pope Francis did not preside over it but followed him from Casa Santa Marta.
