Holy Week is one of the hottest times of the year in Honduras. It is vacation time for most of Latin America but for the girls of Our Little Roses it is a time of sharing the secular with the religious. During Holy Week all the governmental institutions are closed for the entire week. Most private businesses and banks close Thursday and Friday.
Our girls had a whole week of vacation where many activities were planned including a trip to the Retreat Center, Our Lady of the Roses and Weeks-Schilling Conference Center. They were able to escape the heat of the city to enjoy a relaxed time in a cooler, harmonious environment where they were able to enjoy the mountain air and the freedom of walking to the village and enjoying the river that runs behind the property. The Center promotes their personal growth and helps to develop and strengthen their spiritual lives. Pueblo Nuevo, where the Center is located is a small rural touristic town located 45 minutes from San Pedro Sula.
Like many other rural villages they have traditions and dramas enacting indigenous beliefs. One of the most renowned and popular traditions during Holy Week is the visit by characters called "judios" (Spanish for "Jews"). These are masked individuals who carry wooden swords, speak in a strange guttural manner and generally cause mayhem by staging riotous mock sword fights. The "judios" run through town until finally someone gives them some "lempiras" to go away or to leave them alone.
The youngest girls who had never seen these characters before ran to the Retreat Center screaming but quickly the tias were able to calm their fears by explaining that this age old tradition was only a prank played out every year during Holy Week. Afterwards, the "judios" took off their masks so the girls could see that they were normal people. Soon afterwards they enjoyed being able to pose with them for pictures.
