A week full of religious and social traditions: that is how I have remembered Holy Week in Honduras.

By Keila Funez, Staff Writer

During this week, it is common that most people travel to the beach and enjoy the warm days. It is a tradition that my family follows in a different way. While most people travel at the beginning of the week and return home on the weekend, my family and I do a one-day trip when everyone is back at home.

We try to avoid the crowds and enjoy a normal beach day. We eat lots of sweet or salty food. The salty food includes fried fish, dry fish soup and seafood soup. The sweet food includes sweet mango, papaya and torrejas, which is like sweet fried bread. It is like the spring break that people look forward to, expect that we do not have a spring season.

On the other hand, there are also religious traditions that Christians follow.

On Sunday, Catholics celebrate Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos). It is a representation of Jesus’ arrival to Jerusalem when He was welcomed with palms and branches that people placed on the ground while He passed by. On Thursday, there are two events celebrated: the last supper and when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples.

The next day, the church mourns the crucifixion of Jesus. The same day, the Catholic Church walks on sawdust carpets. These carpets are made of sawdust and other organic materials. They are elaborated through Holy Week and on Friday, the church walks on them while representing the day when Jesus carried the cross. People dress up and carry monuments or pictures while walking on the carpets. On Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. During this day, some churches fast while others celebrate it through communion.

Most of the religious traditions are universal, but there are some that are only shared with few countries, like the sawdust carpets.

Sadly, it seems that this year will be different due to the COVID-19 outbreak. My hope is that even though some events will not be able to be celebrated out in public, people will still be willing to dedicate their every day to God and remember the most important thing: Jesus gave His life for us to have eternal life in heaven.