Easter in Brazil – Positives and Negatives

This marked our first Easter in Brazil. Like most experiences it had its positive and negatives. Being the optimistic person that I am (that should get a bit of a laugh) I will start with the positives.

Beginning early in Holy week people were working hard outside the Cathedral. It took us a few days to realize that they were setting up for a performance, a play depicting the Passion of Christ. I was excited about this and really enjoy these kinds of events this time of year.

It ended up being quite an impressive set. The play was scheduled to take place on Thursday and Friday. We attended on Friday night and luckily the rain held off for the entire performance.

It was a beautiful production. The actors did such a great job. It was a great start to the Easter weekend and a reminder of what this holiday is all about.

I do have to mention that we were really surprised to see all the food vendors out for the production. It was complete with a guy carrying a cooler selling soda and water as he walked through the crowd during the most dramatic parts of the play.

Since Good Friday is a day of fasting for Catholics it seemed unusual to get anything you wanted from churros to popcorn. I guess they figure other denominations would attend the event and enjoy a snack, or maybe the fasting thing isn’t a big deal to them here, I don’t know.

Our camera isn’t the best in the dark, but we ended up with a few good pics. I had plans to head back down to take pictures of the actual set on Saturday morning, but unfortunately they had most of it taken down by 10am.

After that great event, I was ready for Easter morning and not just because I could have chocolate. I love Easter morning mass and although I was disappointed to find that they didn’t do a sunrise service here, I was going to make the best of the 9:30am event.

Whoa, what a surprise. Unfortunately it was just like any other Sunday mass. In fact, it was a bit depressing. The music was solemn and everyone seemed very quiet and reserved. I wanted to shout, “Come on people. Let’s get this party started. He is risen! A little upbeat praise music would be nice.”

I was so baffled by the outfits I saw too. Church here, for the most part, is incredibly casual, a little too casual for some women in my opinion. I typically don’t dress up too much for mass at home. Jeans are very common for me. However, jeans with sparkly, low-cut, backless shirts are the norm here in Brazil. I feel it is a bit too much skin for an hour with the Lord.

However, I thought surely the pastels and dresses would come out for Easter Sunday morning. I was wrong. I think I saw two little girls with what could be considered Easter dresses. Everyone else was in jeans and most people wore black. Black!! I honestly couldn’t believe it.

Maybe it is because at home we are headed into spring with Easter and here they are headed into fall. I don’t know. It was just so casual and a bit of a downer for what is supposed to be an upbeat, praise-filled day.

My husband mentioned that there weren’t any Easter hats. Oh, I would have gotten the stares if I would have whipped out one of those! Not that I would wear one anyway (only on Derby day), but it would have been fun to see the reaction.

I haven’t always been at home for Easter so I’m not just comparing the events here to a day with my family. Last year I was on a plane back from Dublin, Ireland and to be honest it felt more like Easter that day than it did here on Sunday.

We came back and I made an Easter brunch for us and we spent the day relaxing and overdosing on the things we gave up for Lent so not all was lost. I do think next year I might try to spend my Easter in Brazil on the beach, though.