Ayacucho in Holy Week: A celebration that will captivate you

In the celebration of the Holy Week festivity, the region of Ayacucho gets festive causing thousands of people to join together to praise a single creator.

The celebration of Holy Week is a significant and important event, since the City of Ayacucho (capital of the region of Ayacucho) is known as an entirely Catholic city since the times of the Spanish colony, being built over the years, nothing more and nothing less, than a total of 37 churches, and so it is also known as the City of Churches.

These days are lived with great devotion and joy, long processions and pilgrimages are made, people celebrate wearing traditional clothing, playing musical instruments, dancing, making flower arrangements and fireworks castles. Literally it is “a religious experience“.

This festivity is celebrated from Palm Sundayto Easter Sunday, this last day is my favorite, since the imposing anda of the Resurrected Christ, with a height of more than 10 meters and illuminated with about 3,000 candles, leaves the Cathedral Basilica of Ayacucho loaded by hundreds of people to go around the square. It is really quite admirable, the tour starts at 5 am, so if you want to see it you have to get up early, I did it and every second was worth it.

There is a popular Catholic tradition that if you come to visit Ayacucho in Holy Week you must visit at least 7 churches . This number is believed to be due to the 7 phrases that Jesus said on the cross. So you know, take the time to visit at least 7 churches and say a few prayers. Some of its most emblematic temples are: the Basilica Cathedral, the Church of Santo Domingo and the Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites.