Tijuana Rite Commemorates Christ’s Crucifixion : Pace of Life Slows in Bustling Border City as Residents, Businesses Take Time Out to Observe Holy Friday

procession made its way methodically through the streets of the modest neighborhood known as the Colonia Postal, passing in front of the Manriquez garage and Montana market, past the signs for El Jalisciense goat-meat taco shop and the La Michoacana ice cream joint.

“Perdona tu pueblo, Senor,” was the chant repeated over and over again by those in front, mostly women, many donning long robes of a different era. “Forgive your people, Lord.” “Forgive me, Lord.”

In the midst of the crowd, three youths dressed as Roman guards, their gold-tinged outfits crafted largely from cardboard, brandished their leather whips at a barefoot teen-ager carrying a cross and wearing a purple sash and crown of thorny vines. He was followed by two other “prisoners,” shirtless and barefoot, representing two thieves. At one point, a robed man, Simon, burst through the crowd and carried the cross for its bearer.

It was Viernes Santo (Holy Friday) in Mexico, where the Roman Catholic faith remains strong, despite an adamantly secular government that has severely circumscribed the church’s role.

In Tijuana, the church of San Felipe de Jesus organized the traditional “Via Crucis” (Stations of the Cross) pageant, commemorating the passion and crucifixion of Christ, one of history’s great dramas.

It is a form of religious theater repeated many times throughout the world on this day, one of the holiest on the church calendar. From South America to Asia, worshipers like those in the Colonia Postal annually reenact Christ’s humiliation before authorities and his subsequent crucifixion. Some celebrants rehearse the spectacle for months, offering elaborate costumed tableaux. Others still practice flagellation during the ceremony, though church authorities frown on such practices. In the Philippines, venerators volunteer to have their hands nailed to the crosses.

The ceremony in Colonia Postal was comparatively modest. The Roman guards applied their whips gently, shouts and screams generally substituted adequately to illustrate their ire at the Christ figure. Painted-on blood served to make the point of a story familiar to all. The crucifixion was accomplished without nails; Christ was tied to the cross with ropes. The thieves were also tied to their crosses with ropes, as they were in Christ’s day.

On this day, the streets of this bustling border city moved at a different pace, a testament to the power of the religious holiday. Few businesses were open. Families donned their Sunday best and headed for churches and to the city’s few parks, imparting an air of Mexico’s interior to the fast-paced metropolis.

The hundreds of supplicants participating in the procession marched slowly through the quiet streets of the Colonia Postal, chanting and stopping for readings at stations representing specific stages of Jesus’ suffering. Residents came out of their houses to watch, respectfully; many made the sign of the cross.

At the end of the route, shortly after 3 p.m., the people gathered in a barren lot alongside the Church of San Felipe de Jesus, on a mesa overlooking much of downtown Tijuana. The crosses for Christ and the two thieves were placed between two junked cars, near the shade of some pepper trees.

‘No Greater Love’

“There is no greater love,” Father Roberto Simionato, an Italian-born missionary, told the assembled crowd, “than to give your life for those you love.”

After the ritual crucifixion, the mourners, including women dressed as Mary and Mary Magdalene, helped remove the body from the cross. Onlookers drifted away; many headed for church services.

Hector Santana, the 14-year-old who played the Christ role, walking barefoot and bearing the cross through the city streets, was clearly moved by the experience. Said Santana, “I felt as He felt.”