“Your Word Is Truth”

Is “Holy Week” for Christians?

AS “Holy Week” approaches in El Salvador, persons of all ages talk about it. To some, these eight days of “Cuaresma” or Lent, which in Central American countries fall in the months of March and April, are by far the most sacred days of the year. They therefore instill in many religious persons a temporary feeling of piety. To others, however, this is merely a time to indulge in recreation that often leads to loose conduct.

During this week it is noteworthy that morals run low, and lawlessness and disorder are commonplace. For example, a leading journal, La Prensa Gráfica, in its issue of March 27, 1967, reported: “70 DEAD, 986 WOUNDED ON HOLY WEEK.” These are staggering statistics for such a small country as El Salvador, especially since this was the toll during only a four-day period.

The religious custom of abstaining from meat is observed by many at this time. Thus, in most Catholic homes it is common during “Holy Week” to eat sun-dried, salty fish.

Also, worshipers start saving money months in advance of “Holy Week” in order to purchase expensive material, usually of purple and black, from which they make long, priestlike garments. These are worn during the main religious pageantries on “Holy Thursday” and “Good Friday,” the latter being the most prominent day of “Holy Week.” Younger and less devoted ones also save, but they have in mind particularly the vacation days that usually run from Thursday to “Easter Sunday.”

The “Good Friday” ceremony begins with removing the image of Jesus from a cross in the church. The image body is anointed with very expensive perfume and is placed, with its wounds in full view, in a glass casket. Now the procession starts. Thousands of mourners follow the image, which is carefully set atop a heavy wooden platform. The heavier the platform, the better is considered the sacrifice made by those who carry it through the streets.

The procession spends the whole day touring the city, and the mourners, dressed in long black garments, follow along behind. Block after block the carriers, who may number as many as fifty, are replaced by new ones. Each carrier pays as much as four dollars to have the privilege of bearing the image of Jesus for one block. At each stop the procession makes, and it makes several in a block, people explode firecrackers, mixing their sighing with sounds of merriment.

Of interest, too, are the colored sawdust designs for which large expenditures also are made. Towns like Antigua in Guatemala and Sonsonate in El Salvador are renowned for their enormous, colorful and beautifully designed sawdust “rugs.” The bigger and more expensive these are, the more esteemed is the family in front of whose house the “rug” is made. When the procession passes, the marchers trample the “rug” until it is completely destroyed. People apparently get satisfaction from setting up such an impressive sawdust display, having attention drawn to themselves and their home.

However, the questions should be considered: Is “Holy Week” a proper religious observance for Christians? Are the celebration and its rituals based on God’s Word the Bible? What does the Bible say in connection with the “Holy Week” festival? It would be wise to determine the answers.

First of all, one wonders about the lawlessness, immorality and disorder connected with “Holy Week.” Would a truly Christian celebration be marred by such wholesale disregard of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Holy Bible? Really, such fruitage is not compatible with something Christian, something that is truly fine and praiseworthy.​—2 Cor. 6:14; Jas. 3:11, 12.

As might be expected, therefore, nowhere in the Bible do we find instructions about keeping such a “Holy Week” festival. In fact, customs and procedures followed during the celebration actually conflict with Bible teachings; for example, the custom of abstaining from meat during “Holy Week.” The Bible points out that such abstinence for religious reasons would be a feature of apostasy, saying: “There will be some who abandon the faith, . . . They will be deceived by the pretensions of impostors . . . Such teachers bid them abstain from . . . certain kinds of food, although God has made these for the grateful enjoyment of those whom faith has enabled to recognize the truth.”​—1 Tim. 4:1-3, translated by “Monsignor” R. A. Knox.

Jesus Christ said that God is properly worshiped “in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24, Douay) Can these words of Jesus be harmonized with the “Holy Week” practice of holding a religious procession that features an image of Jesus? To the contrary, the honor and homage paid to a material, physical image is clearly in violation of the Bible principle: “We walk by faith, and not by sight.”​—2 Cor. 5:7, Dy.

However, some “Holy Week” observers may claim that it is not the image that is honored, but the one whom the image represents, Jesus Christ. Yet God’s straightforward commands bar even such relative worship of images. He says: “Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath . . . Thou shalt not adore them.” “You shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing, neither shall you erect pillars, nor set up a remarkable stone in your land, to adore it.” “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”​—Ex. 20:4, 5; Lev. 26:1; 1 John 5:21, Dy.

Consider the lack of wisdom in honoring a helpless thing made of wood, stone or precious gems. It is lifeless, merely the work of a man’s hands. It cannot reason as a person does. It cannot speak, even as a doll is unable to converse with a child. It cannot hear one’s petitions, nor see impending dangers and then cry out in warning. Little wonder, therefore, that God’s Word shows the foolishness of honoring an image as is done during “Holy Week.”​—Isa. 44:9-20; 46:5-7; Ps. 134:15-18, Dy Ps 135:15-18.

There is only one celebration that the Bible instructs Christians to observe, and that is the memorial of Jesus’ own death. Notice how this celebration was instituted and made a requirement for Christians. The Bible explains: “At length when the hour came, he [Jesus] reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. And, accepting a cup, he gave thanks and said: ‘Take this and pass it from one to the other among yourselves . . .’ Also, he took a loaf, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: ‘This means my body which is to be given in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me.’”​—Luke 22:14, 17-19.

It is this annual celebration, and not a “Holy Week” festival with its unscriptural customs and rituals, that a true Christian should keep. For Christians, this memorial of Jesus’ death is a means of uniting them in true worship and of giving proper recognition to Jehovah God’s merciful provision of Christ as mankind’s ransomer.