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A Tragic “Holy Week” in Popayán

By “Awake!” correspondent in Colombia

THE centuries-old celebration began on Christendom’s Palm Sunday. Thousands of tourists had come​—even from other lands—​to attend the annual “Holy Week” celebration in Popayán, Colombia. In this first of various nightly torch-lit processions, priests, followed by prominent townspeople and schoolchildren, depicted Christ’s triumphal ride into Jerusalem to present himself as King. On succeeding nights processions would represent other events of the last days of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

As large images of Jesus, Mary and other Bible personages were carried solemnly by, crowds of people in hushed silence lined both sides of the narrow streets along the 20-block route where all the city’s important churches are located. Periodically the cargueros (porters) would stop and lower the heavy oak platforms on which the images were mounted, giving temporary relief to their swollen shoulders and aching arms and backs.

No one dreamed that midway through “Holy Week” the huge dome of the centuries-old cathedral would come crashing to the ground, killing some 50 early-morning worshipers; nor that several hundred more persons would suddenly die when 60 percent of the historic sector of this 446-year-old city literally crumbled into dusty ruins.

The Festival’s Origin

Popayán, nestled in a fruitful valley high in the Andes Mountains of southwestern Colombia, was founded in 1537. In keeping with Catholic custom, founder Sebastian de Belalcazar dedicated Popayán to Nuestra Señora del Reposo (Our Lady of Repose) as patron “saint.” From the start, ornate images and statues of religious heroes were made and deposited in temples and churches. On special occasions, particularly at Easter time, they were taken out and carried through the streets in festive processions, as priests took the lead and the townspeople followed behind. As early as 1558, Popayán, in imitation of similar ceremonies of Europe in the Middle Ages, developed her own torch-lit processions and celebrations for “Holy Week.”

As the city grew in size and wealth, the churches and chapels increased in number and elaborateness. More images and statues were added to the collection​—some made locally, others brought from Spain, Italy and Peru. The “Holy Week” celebrations and processions of Popayán, an important seat of the Spanish Crown, became renowned. Her churches, temples and museums became repositories of costly works of art. A trip to picturesque Popayán became a must for the 20th-century visitor to southwestern Colombia.

“The End of the World!”

During this “Holy Week” of 1983, the Tuesday- and Wednesday-night processions went off according to schedule. “Holy Thursday,” an official religious holiday in Colombia, dawned to find some early risers off to the cathedral for the celebration of Mass. It was about 8:10 a.m.

Then, following a muffled underground rumbling, the earth began to sway sickeningly. Terrified, people poured out into the streets, some still in their night clothes. The rumble turned into a roar like that of a jet plane, as the shaking and swaying steadily increased in intensity. People were crying, many on their knees invoking the names of favorite “saints.”

Suddenly, there were several hard jolts and a violent shaking. “We thought it was the end of the world!” some said later. Huge statues of Peter and Paul, high on the front of the cathedral, rocked and then plunged face down​—smashing on the park pavement below. The high vaulted domes of the cathedral plummeted earthward, leaving only an empty shell of one of the oldest cathedrals in the Americas.

Of the 35 religious temples in Popayán, it was reported that half were destroyed or so badly damaged that they would have to be demolished. In the Central Cemetery, walls of the burial vaults fell outward, and caskets, thrown out and broken open, exposed their gruesome remains to public view, similar to what the Bible records at Matthew 27:51, 52. In just 18 seconds, 446 years of history seemed to come to an end.

Popayán Destroyed

In Cali, 85 miles (137 km) to the north, the tremors that holiday Thursday morning were light. But soon the startling news was announced that a large portion of Popayán had been destroyed. Our thoughts turned immediately to the congregation of about a hundred Jehovah’s Witnesses in that city. Though the Pan-American Highway was closed to all but official traffic, two car groups of Witnesses carrying two medical doctors and a civil engineer​—with first-aid supplies and jugs of water—​were able to get through the road blocks and checkpoints and reach Popayán.

The devastation resembled a city wiped out by successive bombing raids during the second world war. Buildings leaned crazily, as if being held up by an invisible hand. Some homes looked like life-size doll houses. Their front walls had crashed outward to the ground, leaving their interior furnishings exposed to view. Townspeople were digging in ruins and streets strewn with debris for possible survivors or family possessions. Stunned, hundreds of persons sat outside in the midst of household furnishings that they had been able to save.

Heartrending were the sights in the cemetery. One little eight-year-old lad had somehow brought coffins containing his mother, father and two brothers to be buried. Hundreds were working feverishly to rebury the dead thrown out by the quake and attend to survivors bringing those newly killed​—some even in plastic bags—​for burial. The stench of death was unbearable!

Witnesses Safe

A small group of Witnesses had gathered at the Kingdom Hall. In less than two hours after the quake, they had contacted all members of the congregation and interested ones. All were safe, and for the most part unhurt. One little girl was sitting at the breakfast table when the quake struck. She fell forward under the table, as if being pushed, just as the brick wall behind her fell onto the tabletop and floor round about. A brick wall of a neighboring house had fallen down onto the Kingdom Hall roof, crashing through the tiles to the floor inside. The houses of some of the Witnesses were badly damaged and a few destroyed.

Donations to help their fellow Witnesses came in from all over the land and from outside Colombia as well. Food and building materials were purchased and trucked to Popayán. Groups of Witnesses from Cali came each weekend for over two months to work long hours in demolition and reconstruction work in behalf of their brothers in need.

A week after the quake, Jehovah’s Witnesses attending the semiannual circuit assembly in Cali broke into spontaneous applause at the announcement that the whole congregation of over a hundred of their Christian brothers and sisters had just arrived from Popayán to join in the assembly. Gladly, those in attendance contributed to contract buses to carry the congregation members back home on Sunday evening after the last session.

A Different Story to Tell

While the newspapers always emphasized the solemnity and piety of the annual Popayán “Holy Week” celebrations, the townspeople this time had quite a different story to tell. When one reporter interviewed 30 people after the quake, 25 stated outright that the catastrophe was a punishment from God. Of 20 elderly people, 19 replied without hesitation that the destruction of the city was divine punishment for the excesses committed during “Holy Week.” “We deserved it,” they said. “It is just a big carnival, with the processions as the principal spectacle. And afterward many of the cargueros (porters) get drunk.”

As pointed out by El Tiempo, a Bogotá newspaper, many excesses had taken place. Over a hundred prostitutes had traveled to Popayán for the celebration, attracted by the influx of the 10,000 tourists who customarily come to see the famous processions. And night clubs and bars were open all night during the “Holy Week” celebration.

Earthquakes were foretold to occur during this time in mankind’s history but not as a punishment from God. Rather, they are one of the evidences that we have reached the conclusion of the present worldwide system of things and that soon God will remove all wickedness and sorrow and usher in a new system of things earth wide. Down to this year of 1984, Jehovah’s Witnesses in Popayán are actively helping their neighbors to realize that hope.​—Matthew 24:3, 7, 14; Revelation 21:1-5.

[Picture on page 20]

The high vaulted domes of the cathedral plummeted earthward, leaving only an empty shell