The plastering of the city is a tradition that dates back to 1675, which forced to clean streets and lots, whoever did not comply, had to pay four patacones.
Just as the street sweeper prepares the streets where minutes later the steps of the processions appear, preceded by the rattle as a symbol of mourning, after Ash Wednesday the sweet granadillas de quijos appear in Popayán, announcing the proximity of Holy Week. which is the most important celebration of the city.
At the same time that these Passifloras offer their great harvest, considered as a tribute to this religious commemoration, with haste, the scaffolding and house painters appear in the historical sector to plaster the facades, a centuries-old tradition, as the book says. Processions of Popayán, Art and Tradition. He adds, that in a document dated March 29, 1675, the field master, Miguel García, governor and captain general of the provinces and governor of Popayán, ordered by decree all the people, neighbors and residents, each one to clean the part that belonged to him from the street and solar. The penalty established for whoever fails to comply with that official provisionit was four patacones, sum that was destined for the wax of the monument. Everything in Holy Week in Popayán has a symbology and the granadillas de quijos are already part of it.
Varied programming
In the 2023 version of Holy Week in Popayán, there will be a varied program that, in addition to night processions, includes visits to churches and museums; craft samples, including Manos de Oro; artistic exhibitions, gastronomy, Charity Procession, the Religious Music Festival that reaches its 60th edition; National Orchid Exhibition; in the squares of Santo Domingo and San Francisco, as well as in the Caldas park, concerts of classical music and folk dances will be offered.
Day of La Alcayata
Starting at 8:00 am on Friday, March 31, the traditional public collection, “Día de La Alcayata”, will be held to help pay for the expenses involved in maintaining the tradition of the Popayán processions, a celebration that contributes to reactivating the local economy. The donation can also be made virtually. This activity is the prelude to the Semana Mayor.
Likewise, on the last day of March, when the 40th anniversary of the earthquake that semi-destroyed Popayán is completed, the Marian procession of the Virgen de Los Dolores, Patron Saint of Popayán, will parade.
Collective exhibition
This same 31, opens at the Casa del Arte, with a recital of Lyrical Singing, a Collective Exhibition, in which well-known artists participate, including Adolfo Torres, María Perafán Simmonds, Renzo Fajardo, Esperanza Polanco, Mathías Maumont Perafán, Víctor Paz Otero, Sandro Velasco, María Victoria Llano, Orlando Torres, María del Carmen Cisneros, Vidalia Sapuy Morales, Ximena Medina, Javier Jurado, Walter Tello, Norma Ocampo, Fernando Pareja, Alina Zambrano, Carlos Coronel, María Cecilia Vivas, Marcel Dousse and Ana Belen. The exhibition will be open until April 9, admission is free.