Good Friday in Oaxaca, 2013, '14, '15, '16, '17, & '22

[bixaorellana]

In Oaxaca, as in everywhere around the world this year, Holy Week observations are cancelled due to the social isolation necessary because of the coronavirus.

Ordinarily, the holiday seasons here are so definitively marked by celebration and an abundance of traditional adornment of buildings around this valley. This afternoon I watched some women on an empty street hanging a rather plain purple swag over an archway -- a striking contrast to the swathes of purple and white usually seen at this time.

Let's look forward to better times and also have a look back at some Good Fridays in normal times.

Easter weekend, Oaxaca 2022
anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/9224/easter-weekend-oaxaca-2022

Good Friday, Oaxaca 2017
anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/8039/good-friday-oaxaca-2017

Good Friday in Oaxaca 2016
anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/7693/good-friday-oaxaca-2016

Good Friday in Oaxaca, 2015
anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/7406/good-friday-oaxaca-2015

Good Friday 2014 This can be clicked through or viewed as a slideshow. For slideshow, click the little screen icon,
first icon of the set of three on the right side above the title photograph. Best in full screen
flic.kr/s/aHsjXgUFT3

Good Friday, Oaxaca 2013
anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/6482/good-friday-oaxaca-2013

[kerouac2]

Thanks for consolidating this collection of wonderful reports.

Probably all of us have been too preoccupied with our own confinement to even really think about the effect on places like Oaxaca which totally thrive on all of these colourful events. It must be a huge disappointment to the people who make all of the preparations. I just wonder when all of this is over if we will be inundated with bigger and better festivals and celebrations than ever or if the world will be groggy from a prolonged coma.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you!

The shutdown during the time of a normal celebration is not only a disappointment, it is making a huge impact on the economy, which is always dependent on tourism. Semana Santa/Holy Week is a time when Oaxacans living elsewhere typically come home for a visit, for instance. It's one of the times of the year, along with Days of the Dead and Christmas, when an enormous pavilion is erected on the pedestrian street and artisans come from all over the state to sell their products. They were working towards this event ever since Christmas time, and now this marketplace is closed.

[lugg]

The impact of this virus is never ending - awful for the people of Oaxaca . Thank you Bixa - its a great idesa to pull al the threads together , I will certainly enjoy them again over the next few days.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you, Lugg ~ very kind!

[cheerypeabrain]

Nice to go back and revisit your beautiful photographs Bixa. I hope that next year all will be back o normal.

[kerouac2]

Or else if things have gone very wrong but Bixa survives, we might get to see "Easter of the Living Dead."

[bixaorellana]

Not funny, McGee!

I shared the link to this thread on a closed fb group for people who live in Oaxaca. One woman then reported that her neighborhood had a Good Friday procession that was essentially a car parade. But she also said that all the neighbors came out to watch, which was the whole point of not having a procession. *sigh*

[bixaorellana]

Let me be quick to point out that this is not my video. It was posted on youtube today, Easter Sunday 2020, and I'm adding it here because it so clearly shows why there were no public Good Friday observations in Oaxaca this year ~

                      video by David Berman

[kerouac2]

It looks like confinement is better respected than in France.

[bixaorellana]

Well, of course there are many fewer people in my city than in yours & in some of those scenes the number of people out might have been affected by the time of day the scene was shot, but still it's very, very empty.

In one way, the most telling part is the long overhead shot at the end. There is poor traffic control in Oaxaca, so many streets are clogged all the time. Not now.

One of the signs of the new strange order is how quiet it is at certain times when we should be expecting noise. Now there are no brass bands with the attendant fireworks out in the streets celebrating weddings and quinceañeras on weekends. The low-level distant noise of traffic is gone, as is that diesel stink I used to wake up to at 6 a.m. when the buses started running. Yesterday morning at 8 a.m. I heard a plane flying over -- a novel sound right now.

[lugg]

That is good to see and read about your experience Bixa . I have read so many posts about the healing of nature, yes some are tripe and some are trite but I think that many of us are experiencing / enjoying some of the unexpected benefits of the fallout of Covid 19 in our own environments.

One thing I have definitely noticed is the improvement in air quality, that is despite living in a rural area where its generally good. I looked up tonight and could not see a single air trail. But .. one of the downsides in my home area is that some of those who continue to drive are doing so at excessive speeds, but the police are pulling them up and many testing positive for drugs and / or alcohol. My other main worry as I ride my horse are some of the lycra clad middle aged men ( and yes they are mainly men) who have absolutely no regard for walkers / horse riders or anyone else. Many of whom have not been on a bike for 20 years.

And so sorry for the dogs who are getting dragged out 3 or 4 times a day when they have barely got 1 walk a day in different times .