The drama of the Passion; symbolism, sentiment and reality in a traditional society

The main purpose of this work is to describe, analyze and interpret the system of meanings embodied in the symbolism of religious ritual in a traditional society; specifically the study deals with the symbolic content of the celebration of Holy Week--within the Christian liturgical year--as it is, and has been, observed since 1558 in the city of Popayan, in southwestern Colombia.; Consequently, this work is a socio-cultural and semiotic interpretation of symbolic action within a traditional society undergoing change. Views on the nature of anthropology as history, the concept of cultural translation and the notion of anthropology as an interpretive art, have been essential guidelines in this research. Although the study was carried out in an urban complex society, the research boundaries were limited primarily to a group of individuals who consider themselves to be the guardians of the best traditions of Popayan. Those "under the weight of tradition" in their yearly symbolic enactment of Semana Santa, portray images and generate models of their own condition which attempt both to make intelligible immediate problems within the society (e.g., social class relations), and to manifest, by interpretive explanations, their awareness of a complex social reality. Simultaneously, in the ritual dialogue between objective strategies and subjective attitudes, social identities are redefined, while a cultural vision of the world is expressed.; For research purposes, I lived in Popayan for thirty-eight months. My involvement with the community was one of a constant participant-observer in the attempt to critically grasp meanings, both from "their" emic perspective and through the etic concepts of the anthropologist. To construct a coherent description of symbolic action, toward further interpretations, I have followed contemporary anthropological trends in which the scientific method is supported by literary creativity. While theories have played an important role in this work, theoretical concepts have not been created anew to bear on the problem under study; rather, relevant ideas have been permuted, readapted and redefined by means of imagination.; On March 31st 1983--Maundy Thursday--an earthquake struck Popayan; the occurrence of this natural phenomenon created conditions which epitomized cultural aspects discussed in this work.