The Republican journal., 1899-04-20

baskets, crosses, necklaces, bracelets and
other pretty triaes of palm, have them
duly blessed by some accommodating
priest, and distribute them along ones
friends
On Mandy Thursday morning the
whole city goes into mourning and silence.
Flags are furled, bands cease to play, not
bell rings not a carriage is permitted
to traverse a street within the city
walls.
On Good Friday, only business or work,
| public or private, of the most imperative
need, is done, and in the houses of the
devout it is as if the dearest member of
the family were lying dead. Ladies wear
sombre black, discardipg all ornament
But one meal is served in the "a hours,
and that at mid day, of bread, rice and
bacalao. The latter is cod fish, but so
compounded with oil and saffron. toma-
toes and peppers that Nantucketer would
fail to recognize his own. At twilight,
images of the dead Christ, of his sorrow
ing Mother, of St. John and Mary Magda-
lene, together with the instruments of
! His Passion, are borne through the streets
at the head of vast following of clergy,
religious ORDERS confraternities, charit-
| able associations and the general public.
| During the last decade these time honor
ed customs have been somewhat on the
wane in the more cosmopolitan capital,
and in this year of American occupation
were comparatively omitted, but are still
in full force in other parts of the island.
Then comes Holy Saturday, the blessed
pause and hull of emotion that prevails in
all Christian countries, Protestant or
Catholic, the loosening of the strain of
weeks, the resting from the gloom of the
latest days in the sure knowledge that a
glad time, the great day the Lord hath
made, is only few hours away.
AT sunrise on Easter morning comes an
other triumphal procession. The risen
Christ is borne from the cathedral toward
the old church of Santa Catalina, and is
t'ONtStiCAi
latter, bearing st. Mary Magdalene seek
ing her Master. At the moment of meet
ing, a salute is fired, on The instant cannons
boom, drums beat, trumpets blare, the
hushed church bells clamor again, flags
are flung out from the harbor forts, tow
ers and housetops, from government
buildings and ships in the bay; carriages
dash unchallenged through the city gates,
the orb of day rises glorious from the sea,
and the Son of Righteousness, too, is
| risen, having conquered the grave for the
whole human race
High mass ID any of Habana's twenty
churches is thing to be long rememb ered,
and military mass in the Cathedral is
startlngly impressive. The old building
itself is very quaint and interesting, anti
que Spanish in architecture, it's stones
N oss- grown and its interior as religiously
dim as heart could wish; rich in rare
paintings, vestments, & Did and silver candle
labra, altar equipments and sacred vessels;
but there is, alas! too much of the tawdri-
|
taste, and especially dear to the religious
heart of Spanish America. As everybody
knows, the ashes of Christopher Columbus
reposed in this church through two long
centuries, and above his tomb hung the
rusty chains with which his ungrateful
master bound him. The departing
| Spaniards should not have been permit d
to carry these sacred relics away from
Cuba; but they did so, unhindered by
| their American conquerors and the fresh
plaster around the recently displaced
stone that closed the vault, tells of empi-
ness within.
On Easter morning the finest treasures
of the sacristy are brought forth to drape
the affairs and glitter in the floods of
waxen light. Jewels sparkle amid the
gold embroideries of the white vestments
of ecclesiastics within the altar rail, and
a crowd of officers in full uniform lend
color to the scene. The other soldiers
stand in body, near the middle of the
church. Around them kneels molly
gathering-lad of high degree with their
children, poor reconcentrado women,
negro servants, gaily bedecked courtesans,
handsome bronze women from the Canary
islands in gorgeous petticoats and chem
ises, whose Jokes and sleeves are stiff with
red and blue embroidery; perhaps
stately countess in Lyons satin and
n o;rrh%
in gold, beside beggar in filthy rags;
somewhat worldly looking canon in
lacquered shoes and soutane of the most
exquisite quality, crowded against bare