Catharsis: Blowing up stuff on Easter Sunday

Published April 12, 2023

by Robert Hawkins

Maybe if every place had a day when you could blow up life-size papier-mâché effigies of bad people, the world would be a happier place.

I was definitely in a happier place after watching San Miguelians blow up about two-dozen effigies on Easter Sunday. They call them Judases.

I know, not your typical Easter Sunday celebration. Just roll with it and enjoy.

All week San Miguel de Allende has been observing the tragic (or glorious) end of Jesus Christ, reliving his life and death in an almost real-time series of processions and pageantry. By Easter Sunday, the story is largely played out.

The papier-mâché Judases are life-size images of devils, witches, brides, bankers, politicians, celebrities, sports figures — almost anyone who has irked the populace in the previous year. The identity of most, I suspect, goes to the explosive grave with the figure.

In recent years, the grand finale has been a bloated figure of Donald Trump which detonates to raucous noise and applause. There was no Trump this year, perhaps a sign that justice is being served in a more traditional way, or perhaps his presence has simply fallen off the radar here.

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