Tocuyo Holy Week

The major week in El Tocuyo

Holy Week is —along with June 13 (Saint Anthony) and December 8 (Immaculate Conception)— one of the most intense moments of the El Tocuyo religious calendar. The Marian and Christian devotion of the city, founded in 1545 under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception, finds its most solemn expression in Holy Week.

Palm Sunday

The Sunday before Easter marks the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. In El Tocuyo:

• Blessing of palms and branches at the Inmaculada Concepción Cathedral.
• Procession from a point near the historic center to the main church, with the image of Jesus mounted on a small donkey.
• Solemn Mass with the complete reading of the Passion.

The blessed palms are taken home and placed behind doors or on household altars as protection.

Holy Monday to Holy Wednesday

Days of intensive catechesis, confessions and internal Stations of the Cross in the churches. In the Morán Municipality, Stations of the Cross are also held in the rural villages —Humocaro Alto, Humocaro Bajo, Guárico, neighboring Sanare—.

Holy Thursday

• Mass of the Washing of the Feet in the afternoon.
• Visit to the seven churches: a popular El Tocuyo tradition consisting of visiting seven different churches in a single night, praying in each one. Before the 1950 earthquake, El Tocuyo —called the "City of the Seven Churches"— offered exactly the right number of churches for this tradition. Today, with fewer churches, the practice is maintained by visiting the main ones.
• Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the night.

Good Friday

The most solemn day. In El Tocuyo it is celebrated:

• Morning Stations of the Cross through the streets of the center, with the fourteen stations represented in prints or pictures.
• Liturgical service of the Passion at 3 in the afternoon —traditional hour of the death of Christ—.
• Procession of the Holy Sepulcher at dusk: the image of the recumbent Christ goes through the main streets accompanied by the municipal band with funeral marches and hundreds of faithful dressed in dark clothes.
• Sermon of the Seven Words in some years, preached by guest priests.

Holy Saturday

• Easter Vigil during Saturday night: blessing of the new fire, of the Paschal candle, readings from the Old Testament, baptisms and renewal of baptismal promises.
• Burning of Judas (Quema de Judas) in many sectors: a cardboard and rag doll filled with firecrackers representing Judas Iscariot is burned amid laughter and applause in plazas and streets. It is usually portrayed as an unpopular figure of the year (a politician, a public figure) and comes with a "testament" of satirical verses. It is symbolic popular justice.

Easter Sunday

• Solemn Easter Mass.
• Procession of the Risen Christ with the image of the Risen Christ.
• Family meals with traditional sweets: caramelized papaya, dulce de leche, coconut preserve.

Holy Week food

Out of respect for the Catholic tradition of not eating red meat during Lent:

• Salted fish —traditional, before mass refrigeration—.
• Stewed dogfish and dogfish empanadas.
• Fish broth.
• Pumpkin soup and bean soups.
• Lenten sweets: caramelized papaya, sweet green mango, coconut preserve, milk preserves.

How to experience it as a visitor

• Arrive before Palm Sunday to find lodging.
• Attend the Holy Sepulcher procession on Good Friday: it is the most impressive experience.
• Eat fish at one of the local restaurants in the historic center.
• Stay for Holy Saturday to see the Burning of Judas in some sector.
• Respect the silence of Good Friday during the liturgical hours (12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m.).