Good Friday in El Salvador

Good Friday in El Salvador is not like Good Friday in the States. Here in America, it seems that many people are oblivious to the day of Good Friday. Stores are open. Mail is delivered. Many churches have services, and a few people even show up. But for the non-religious, Good Friday is a lot like Flag Day. Where the response might be, “Huh… it’s Good Friday? Oh. OK. Zzzzzzz.” The implication is that it’s OK if you want to remember Good Friday, but most folks will go about their day without much notice or concern or care that it’s Good Friday.

Not so in El Salvador. There is no mistaking it’s Good Friday there. Shops, schools, and government offices are all shut down. And many of the streets are transformed into an art gallery of sorts. Individuals and groups make beautiful “rugs” out of sawdust (don’t think of these creations as a bathroom throw rug but rather they are more like giant colorful murals where the street pavement becomes the canvas) on which later in the day processionals of people will walk or even crawl over them as an act of penitence for their sins of the past year. As people are working on their murals and others are watching, street vendors and people are milling around and enjoying the festivities of the day. Since we left before Easter, I have no way of knowing, but I was told that the emphasis on Good Friday is way bigger than it is for Easter.

For everybody in the country, religious and non religious alike, knows that it is Good Friday.
Here most people know it is Easter. They may not remember Good Friday, but they know it’s Easter Sunday. Prior to Easter, every retail store had huge displays of candy and bunnies and spring time colors. Churches sent out invitations and placed banners in their lawn. On the day itself, at least some stores are shut down. (Since we had been gone the previous nine days, there was no milk in our house. On Easter afternoon, I made a quick run to Price Chopper for milk and discovered that the store was closed. Good for Price Chopper. Bad for my Cocoa Krispies.) Since it’s a Sunday there is no mail delivery, no school and no government offices open. And even the TV networks might show religious movie classics like Ben Hur or The Ten Commandments or have some religious type programming. One way or another, most folks even if not religious know that it is Easter.

So here’s my question: Which is worse: To make a big deal that it’s Good Friday but forget about Easter, or make a big deal that it’s Easter but on Monday go on as if Easter never occurred?

We are a few days past Easter now. The candy is probably gone. The Easter baskets put away for another year. And besides a few strands of that fake plastic grass hanging around on the living room carpet, most outward signs of Easter are gone. School and jobs and life have gotten back to normal. So my real concern is: Is the wonder of Easter still in your heart? Have you packed the Easter Joy away with the baskets, bonnets and Easter bunny knick knacks? Or is the power of the Resurrection still making an impact on your life? Are you still rejoicing that we “serve a Risen Savior who’s in the world today”? Isn’t that what matters?

Long after the last Peep is eaten and the last jelly bean is gone—I hope that the power of the Resurrection is still making a life altering impact in you.