The Passion of Christ, Jocotepec 2022
The character of Pontius Pilate, accompanied by his wife and the women of his palace.
There are a little over 50 actors on stage, including girls, boys and adult men and women. Since last February they began to prepare the representation of the Passion of Christ in the municipal capital of Jocotepec.
A few minutes before the beginning of the Stations of the Cross, the participants take care of the last details gathered in the pastoral house of the parish of Señor del Monte. They arrange their hairstyles and tunics and the leaders give instructions.
Pedro Gómez Monreal is one of the organizers; also Benjamín Ramos Bautista. The last three weeks have been arduous rehearsals.
Lucia Mendoza is an elementary school teacher, she represents Pontius Pilate’s wife; she is dressed in a pearl-colored dress with satin sleeves and a golden diadem. For the teacher Luci it is extraordinary to be able to transmit a living God through the characters that she and her classmates represent.
There is also her father, Don Pedro Mendoza, the wool serapes maker, who yesterday represented the apostle Peter. Today he appears along with men and women of the town.
-Yesterday I cried,» he says, saddened.
«It doesn’t feel good to deny my God, let alone three times».
Angel Gael Ramos also represents a boy from the agitated town that demands the Crucifixion of Jesus. From a very young age he has accompanied his parents and now he does so from the character assigned to him.
The Jesus Christ of this 2022 edition is represented by Cristian José López López.
The parishioners are already in the atrium waiting. The three stages of the first Stations of the Cross are ready. In the first one, Pontius Pilate appears, played by Pedro Gómez and his wife amidst purple curtains. On another stage is Herod surrounded by his servants. Jesus goes from one stage to another amidst pushing and whipping by the soldiers amidst the shouts of the people.
In another painting, there is a huge trunk to which the Nazarene is tied. There he is scourged before the eyes of the actors who represent the enraged mob and the parishioners who live the Stations of the Cross.
A girl of about ten years old, dressed in a brown tunic, watches with anguished eyes; she anxiously pinches a wooden cane that she carries in her hands.
Amidst mocking laughter and pushing and shoving, the enormous wooden cross is placed on the shoulders of the personage of Jesus Christ. The faithful continue to pray the Stations of the Cross through the main streets of Jocotepec.
The night has fallen, from the celestial vault a round and brilliant moon observes us. Next to the solemnity of the prayers, a woman appears with a tricycle selling corn, chickpeas, peanuts and snacks. Accompanied by a girl, she observes the passing of the Viacrucis and continues on her way. The diner is open, «Today tamales and atole », says a small sign. A woman who dines pauses as the procession passes by. The flower shop is also open and a few people watch the Stations of the Cross from inside.
On arrival at the church, the crosses of the thieves Dimas and Gestas are raised and the cross of Jesus Christ is being prepared. The people swirl around the final scene, the atrium remains in darkness; the disturbing faces of some of the assistants are illuminated by the lamps outside.
Soldiers place Jesus on the cross without his clothes, holding him by his hands and feet and then lifting him up, supported by thick ropes.
In the midst of the funeral atmosphere, the thunderous reggaeton coming from a Razer type vehicle that passes outside the temple interrupts the ceremony while the attendees ignore it.
The scene is complete, the silhouettes of the three crosses can be seen amidst the foliage of the trees illuminated by a white light that focuses on the faces of the characters.
With a bloodied body, the crucified man pronounces his last words before the anguished gaze of the audience.
-Judas hanged himself,» shouts a male voice.
And the people turn their gazes to the back stage where the silhouette of a man hangs from a rope.
The agony of Jesus is again interrupted by the Razer with the song that passes by for the second time sporting a bar of colorful light.
The faithful concentrate on the naked and battered figure of the crucified man who, on the verge of expiring, exclaims:
-In your hands I commend my spirit-.
-Into your hands I commend my spirit.
Immediately, a voice floods the scene.
-He is trembling!
And everyone kneels down.
At the foot of the cross is the character of Mary accompanied by John and another woman.
The young man playing John is indeed weeping bitterly. He takes Mary by the arm with a face bathed in tears, a face that is really living the Calvary and death of the true Son of God and wipes her tears again and again, because for him his companions are at that moment the characters of the sacred scriptures and the atrium of the parish, it is not the atrium, but Golgotha itself.
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
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