If you know anything about Catholics you know that Holy Week is celebrated in every Christian country throughout the world. It almost always happens between March and April so that holy Friday is always on a full moon.  However, every country celebrates it in a different way. Holy week in El Salvador isn’t the exception. If you like Catholics activities you should travel to El Salavador in the Holy Week.

Celebrations are so unique depending on the place that not even within a country you will find the exact same traditions. For example, out of all the holy week celebrations that happen in El Salvador, the ones in Sonsonate tend to be the largest, most colorful, and most popular in the country.

If you are in the area during this time, seeing the holy week celebrations is one of the top things to do in El Salvador.

Photo Source: Fanny Basurto | Wikimedia Commons

Fun Facts About Holy Week in El Salvador – Sonsonate

Holy Week Activities In El Salvador

• Sonsonate, El Salvador is well known for its street carpets or “alfombras” made of colorful flowers and colored sawdust that are created on the street for the procession.

• During the Lent season just like any country  Salvadorans’ don’t consume meat on Fridays but eat only seafood instead during this time.

• During this time, you will notice a lot of purple in churches and people’s clothes. That is because for Catholics purple is the color of penitence.

• Some of the popular food for the Holy Week for most people here are fish cake soup or seafood soup, rice with clams accompanied by hot tortillas made from corn flour, plantain or mango marmalade, dry fruit candy and French toast with sugar cane honey (panela) called torrejas.

• Holy Friday is a sad day when all of the purple turns into black and processions of a dead Christ fill the streets.

• Holy Saturday is another sad day, with vigils in most churches. It represents the hope of believers who believe Christ will soon be back to life.

• And at the end of the week, Easter Sunday is celebrated with a special mass and a procession. This is a day of celebration because Christ has gone back to life.

• This is supposed to be a time of reflection for all believers, but you will be able to notice that some also take it as ta time to get some rest from work and to go party.

• Holy week is the main event but lent (the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday) is also filled with processions, masses and other rituals that you might want to learn about even if it is not part of your belief system.

Video Fun Abou Holy Week in El Salvador

To get a Better Idea of what Holy Week in El Salvador is like take a look at this video:

What do you think? Has all of this information motivated you to go and experience Holy Week in el Salvador? For my part, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys cultural activities while traveling around new countries.

I’d also love to hear about your experiences if you have been there.

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