Roman Catholics in Boston marked Good Friday today, the prelude to Easter, with a live Stations of the Cross, or passion play, performed in the city’s South End. It was part of annual, traditional Christian remembrances of the government torture and execution of Jesus by being nailed to a cross, in advance of what faithful believe was his resurrection from the dead two days later on Easter.

The pageant—presented mostly in Spanish and drawing significantly on traditions of the neighborhood’s Puerto Rican and Latin American communities—began with a man playing Jesus being sentenced to death on the steps of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Washington Street, the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the seat of Cardinal Sean O’Malley (who participated at the beginning of the event).

A bloodied Jesus was then forced to carry a cross while being marched through neighborhood streets by Roman soldiers—the reenactment called the Stations of the Cross. The men whipped him and shoved him, yelling all the while, “Camina!” (walk). The procession finally circled back to the cathedral, where the group reenacted Jesus’s crucifixion and burial in a cave tomb.


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A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)
A Good Friday Stations of the Cross pageant for Easter performed in the neighborhood around Boston’s Cathedral of the Holy Cross, April 19, 2019. (Greg Cook)

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.