The culmination of the church events was the long Easter Vigil on Saturday evening, beginning with a bonfire in the square outside. After the end of the service followed Tupãsy
Ñuvaiti, a tradition dating back to the Jesuit era which imagines the encounter of the Risen Christ with his mother. Previously the Jesuit-Guarani statues of St John, Mary and the resurrected Christ were taken from the museum to play the three roles, but since one suffered some damage last year, people dressed up instead.
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| The Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, hiding in Margaret's house. |
All the women hide in a house opposite the church with the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. The men then accompany St John, leaping and bounding, to knock on the door. The second time they knock, Mary Magdalene goes out, and the third time the Virgin and all the other women go out, and everyone processes around the square with lanterns to meet Christ at the church door. Lots of singing and general jubilation ensues.
In earlier eras this custom was rather lengthier, as no-one knew which house in the village Mary was hidden in. Her location was passed around the women in the village by word of mouth, and the men just had to go knocking from house to house all over town to find her.
On Easter Sunday there was a normal service in the evening but it was rather like the Sunday after Christmas in terms of attendance...Eggs are a less prevalent symbol, perhaps as Easter falls in autumn rather than spring, and chocolate is pretty dubious - even the bars that you can find in San Ignacio admit to being "chocolate flavoured paste".
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