259 LA SEMANA SANTA. 



is bustle and confusion again — the colloquial 

 chit-chat is resumed — the smith plies upon 

 his anvil -with redoubled ener^ — the clink of 

 the hammer simultaneously resounds in every 

 direction — the wayfarers are again in motion, 

 and both pleasure and business, in short, as- 

 sume their respective svray; and a huenas 

 tardes (good evening) to tliosc present closes 



the ceremony. 



Although the Catholics have a saint for 

 each day in the year, the number of canon- 

 ized fiestas in which labor is i)rohibited has 

 been somewhat reduced in Mexico. La Sertia- 

 na Santa, or Passion "VVe ck, is perhaps the pe- 

 riod when the religious feeling, such as it is, 

 is most fully excited: Viernes Santo (Good 

 Friday), especially, is observed with great 

 pomp and splendor. An imiige of Chnst 

 large as life, nailed to a huge wooden cross, 

 is paraded through the streets, in the midst ot 

 an immense procession, accompanied by a 

 glittering array of carved images, representing 

 the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and seve- 

 ral others ; while the most notorious person- 

 ages of antiquity, who figiued at that grea 

 era of the world's liistory,— the centurion witii 

 a band of guards, armed Avith lances, and ap- 

 parelled in the costuirie supposed to na\e 

 been worn in tliosc days, — may be seen be- 

 striding splendidly caparisoned horses, in ' j 

 breathing reality of flesh and blood. AaK- 

 ing it all in all, this spectacle,— the cerenio^ 

 nics and manoDuvres which attend its care 

 tlirough the densely crowded and ornanien • 



