Abstract

MARTINEZ AGUILAR, José Manuel. Uses of Public Space in Tzintzuntzan during Holy Week. Secuencia [online]. 2022, n.112, e1770.  Epub Mar 07, 2022. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i112.1770.

In Tzintzuntzan, as in other parts of Mexico, certain spaces used for most of the year to circulate and to carry out pagan activities acquire a mystical significance during Holy Week, when settlers convert secular spaces into sacred ones representing the places where Jesus Christ spent the last years of his life. A distinctive feature of this Michoacan city is the way these spaces are created and transformed through unique practices, whose origin dates to colonial times. The atrium -known as the atrium of the olive trees- symbolically becomes the road to Golgotha. The crosses of the town and the houses where the old statues of Christ are kept become altars imbued with great significance before which the penitents and members of the procession kneel during their Good Friday processions.

Keywords : penitents; espías; procession; popular religiosity; Holy Burial.