Egg with a Pac-Man design
Japanese video games are popular in Mexico as well
Semana Santa commemorates the Passion, death, and resurrection of Christ, so it’s as important as Christmas, if not more so. So although there are many people who travel or take fun vacations, the common practice is to go to church and worship. April 1 is an important day in the Catholic tradition, when they hold a special church service known as mass. My daughter goes to a Catholic school, which apparently has a relatively high percentage of devout Catholics even for Monterrey. The school has its own church and a priest. It held mass and other events on Saturday, April 2 that families could participate in, so we went. It was the first time my daughter and I had participated in mass, so I think it was a good experience for both of us. After the service, they had a market selling drinks and snacks, showed a movie, and had face-painting events for the kids. They also had an event called Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross), where people followed a processional route to symbolize the path Jesus walked towards his crucifixion.
There are very few Catholics in Japan, so when we picture Easter we tend to think of rabbits, decorating Easter eggs, and Easter egg hunts. That’s the only image I had of it, so I knew almost nothing about the holiday--how important it is to Catholics or that its purpose is to celebrate the resurrection of Christ after he was put to death. The eggs are tied to the life and resurrection of Jesus since they themselves are symbols of birth. Rabbits have lots of babies with every litter and can reproduce many times in a year, symbolizing big, happy, prosperous family lines. This is the first time I understood all of these connections.
We also hosted an Easter party for my daughter’s classmates and their mothers before Semana Santa, and that was the first time I ever experienced an Easter egg hunt. First, we prepared the eggs. You can buy real eggs filled with confetti or treats from the supermarket. You can also buy plastic eggs and put the candy or confetti in those. I went out to buy some eggs because I heard that we were supposed to bring eggs to the party, only to discover that because Semana Santa was coming up, even the supermarket was sold out of eggs and every Easter-related product was already gone. Luckily my daughter had asked for some eggs right when the Easter goods first came out, so we stuffed those with confetti and took them to the party.
Plastic eggs and confetti
Next we had to find a basket to put the eggs in from the Easter egg hunt. That was another thing that you couldn’t find anywhere right before Easter, but I ended up getting one by checking the social media page of a shop that I thought might have them in stock. I learned the same lesson I did at Christmas: If you think you’re going to need something for Easter, you’d better buy it early.
Easter basket
Finally, it was time for the event. We gathered the kids in one spot so that they couldn’t see what we were doing while the adults hid the eggs. The egg hunt then all kicked off at once. As soon as the kids found the eggs, they cracked the ones filled with confetti over their friends’ heads, crying out “Happy Easter!” The confetti was everywhere in their hair and nearly impossible to get out, but everyone was having a blast—not just the kids, but even the adults who got confetti eggs cracked on their heads by the kids. I learned that cracking eggs full of confetti is a Mexican tradition—which makes total sense given how much the Mexicans love a lively party.
Kids having fun cracking eggs full of confetti
Shopping malls and other places host Easter egg hunts as well, so anyone can jump in and participate. Most of the eggs are full of treats at those events.
Semana Santa is a five-day period with deep religious significance, each characterized by an important ceremony. People also refrain from eating red meat during that time to symbolize Christ’s 40-day fast. So McDonald’s in Mexico sells its Filet-O-Fish sandwiches during that time. In Japan you can get the fish sandwich any time of year, but since Mexicans overwhelmingly eat meat normally, you don’t see the Filet-O-Fish much. I find it fascinating to discover these differences rooted in religion. Thanks to my kids’ school, this Easter I got to have new experiences and some wonderful opportunities to learn a little more about the Catholic faith.
