The Lord of Tremors & the Holy Week Festival in Cusco, Peru
Holy Week is fast approaching! During this time, Cusco is a very popular destination for domestic and international travelers alike, as the erstwhile Imperial City of the Incas celebrates the event in its own Andean-Catholic style, notably with feasting, folkloric music and dance, and processions of the Lord of Tremors (also known as the Black Christ)….
Palm Sunday
The syncretism of pre-Columbian Andean beliefs and Catholicism makes Cusco’s Holy Week unlike any other you’ll see. The day starts with mass in Cusco’s ornate Basilica 
Cathedral. In the Plaza de Armas of Cusco, the city’s main square, religious reenactments are followed by folkloric dances whilst vendors circle with their wares which promise good fortune.
Sample guinea pig and other dishes at the Festival de Sabor Andino (Festival of Andean Flavor) in the main square of the district of San Jeronimo, including Holy Week’s most traditional eats: roast suckling pig with Peruvian potatoes, tamales, and large rounds of ch’uta bread.
Holy Monday: Cusco’s Lord of Tremors
Monday of each Holy Week, the Lord of Tremors is taken out from the Cathedral of Cusco in procession with musicians and devotees, while the faithful strew purple ñucchu petals, which in ancient times were used as an offering to Inca gods but now are said to symbolize the blood of Christ.
Originally christened as Lord of Good Death upon its arrival to Cusco, it was long forgotten in an altar in the Chapel interior, darkening over time by the resinous nature of its construction materials, and the smoke of candles and incense. On Palm Sunday, 1650 an earthquake of devastating magnitude ravaged the city, tumbling temples, convents, and estates. The initial quake, believed for a long time afterwards to have been the world’s most severe on record, was followed by an unceasing stream of aftershocks over the following days. As buildings damaged in the initial quake crumbled during the aftershocks, the faithful carried out processions seeking forgiveness, carrying different virgins and saints, with women covering their faces covered in ash as a form of punishment against their own vanity and the men dragging heavy chains which wrapped about their necks as they bargained for salvation, but the aftershocks continued.
It was not until the Christ was taken out in procession and placed in the Plaza de Armas to be adored that the aftershocks ceased, giving birth to the cult of the Lord of Tremors, also often referred to as the Black Christ, who became the city’s patron saint.
In Cusco the processions continue to this day each Holy Monday. Some of the faithful believes that the color of their indigenous Christ darkens as he realizes miracles, and that the weight of the litter which the most devoted bear is the weight of the sins one carries,
and that his face will express the nature of the coming year. 60 thousand devoteesgather to receive his blessings.
Good Friday
On Good Friday, the Hampirantikuy Market springs up to sell medicinal plants and plants for good fortune or of religious significance and devotees walk the Stations of the Cross from Plaza San Francisco to the Lord’s Cross in Sacsayhuaman Archeological Complex, the Inca fortress of the giant stones overlooking Cusco. Unlike other places, Cusco does not celebrate this day with fasting, but with feasting. The tradition is to prepare 12 dishes.
Holy Week in Cusco fills up FAST, but Pirwa Hostels has four different locations in Cusco, so we’ve still got availability. For an unbeatable view of the dancing and processions, try the Pirwa Posada del Corregidor– the in-house restaurant, Plus Restaurant, has balconies overlooking the Plaza de Armas of Cusco, which is a great way to see the happenings without jostling for a spot at street level.
