April 1

Today was Jueves Santo de la Cena del Señor or Holy Thursday. We went to Parque Central just before noon for lunch and found the municipal band playing one of two concerts scheduled for the day.


After lunch, we walked over to the cathedral to try to find out what time the Holy Thursday Mass would be held and found a procession leaving the church and proceeding around Parque Central. (Note: this was one of three processions held this day.)








Like in La Antigua, they also create alfombras (decorative carpets of flowers and sawdust) in the streets.


We went back later in the afternoon, before going to the church and found the municipal band playing again in the shade of Parque Central.


We never did find out what time the Holy Thursday Mass was being held, but did see a notice that there were weekday Masses at 6:00 p.m., so we decided to arrive at 5:30 p.m. to make sure we had as seat. On our way to the church, I took this picture of the front of the cathedral.


The church was fairly empty when we arrived, but there were other people there who were also unsure when the service would start. Here's a picture of the sanctuary prior to Mass.


We had no problem getting a good seat, since the service didn't actually start until 8:00 p.m. Please note, that there were quite a few Guatemalans in the church with us while we were waiting. Here's a photo showing the crowd that attended, as it was a full church.


Other than the fact that the Mass was in Spanish, it was identical to others that we've attended in past years, with the exception being that it was celebrated by the Archbishop.

After Mass, we walked back to our guesthouse.