For Alejandro Garcia, the congregation of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s annual procession isn’t meant to be fun.
“It’s all a sad day,” Garcia said of Good Friday, the day Romans crucified Jesus. “But it’s important.”
Garcia attended the annual procession with his daughters and mother. He’s been attending the Via Crucis, the Way of the Cross procession, since he was a child.
Following a two-hour service at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, participants marched through the streets of East Chicago, following Roman soldiers and Jesus, who was played by Eron Herrejon this year.
The procession makes its way through the city’s downtown and ends at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The procession stops at nine “stations” through East Chicago, where volunteers and church leaders read scripture or a prayer. Actors then re-enact a part of the Biblical story.
Rosa Cortez, a member of Our Lady of Guadalupe, read the Lord’s Prayer at one of the stations. The prayer was typically read by Jesus and his disciples, and it teaches Christians how to pray.
Cortez said church leadership asked her to participate for the first time this year. She’s gone to the procession since she was a child.
“This is a big thing in our family and our community,” Cortez said.
Faith is important to Cortez and her family, she added, and she thinks the procession serves as a good reminder of that for them.
“It helps you know that even if you’re by yourself or not by yourself, there’s always somebody there in Jesus,” Cortez said.
The procession and its preceding service are bilingual, which Cortez enjoys because East Chicago has a prominent Latino community. According to U.S. census data, 56.5% of East Chicago’s population are Hispanic or Latino.
Cortez on Friday read the Lord’s Prayer in English.
“It’s nice that they talk in both English and Spanish,” she said. “A lot of the new generation coming up knows more English, and some are still trying to learn Spanish. We try to incorporate our culture, and that includes Spanish.”
Garcia also likes that the service is bilingual because it allows people to experience the procession equally, no matter what language they speak.
Garcia’s favorite part of the procession is that he can spend time with his daughters, who he walked side-by-side with throughout the entirety.
“It’s really cool to share the story of Easter with them,” he said.
