At 4 a.m., I was treated (and I use the word sarcastically) to a procession of singing, cross-carrying Dominicans. The procession was headed towards Cabarete. The crosses appeared to be cardboard. I have never encountered this before. Respectful though I may be of the religious observances of others, I was puzzled --- and not especially pleased --- by the hour of this display. They did have a police escort.
Anybody else awakened by this? Is there a big church in Cabarete they might have been heading for? Were they planning on walking all the way to Jerusalem?
Can not imagine why there should be a procession Yesterday?? As in the Friday before Palm Sunday?
perhaps the Church scheduled it a week ahead knowing how Dominicans are always late? (sorry if this offended anyone who is observant)
"...Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which may also be known as Passion Sunday in some denominations. Traditionally, Palm Sunday commemorates the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem described in all four canonical gospels. As described in the accounts, Jesus's entry into Jerusalem was noted by the crowds present who shouted praises and waved palm branches. In the Roman Rite, before 1955 it was known simply as Palm Sunday, and the preceding Sunday as Passion Sunday. From 1955 to 1971 it was called Second Sunday in Passiontide or Palm Sunday. Among Lutherans and Anglicans, the day is known as the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday.[7]
In many liturgical denominations, to commemorate the Messiah's entry into Jerusalem to accomplish his paschal mystery, it is customary to have a blessing of palm leaves (or other branches, for example olive branches). The blessing ceremony includes the reading of a Gospel account of how Jesus rode into Jerusalem humbly on a donkey, reminiscent of a Davidic victory procession, and how people placed palms and other branches on the ground in front of him. Immediately following this great time of celebration over the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, he begins his journey to the cross. The blessing is thus followed by a procession or solemn entrance into the church, with the participants holding the blessed branches in their hands. The Mass or service of worship itself includes a reading of the Passion, the narrative of Jesus' capture, sufferings and death, as recounted in one of the Synoptic Gospels. (In the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite celebrated according to the Roman Missal of 1962, the Passion narrative read on this day is always that of St. Matthew.)
Before the reform of the rite by Pope Pius XII, the blessing of the palms occurred inside the church within a service that followed the general outline of a Mass, with Collect, Epistle and Gospel, as far as the Sanctus. The palms were then blessed with five prayers, and a procession went out of the church and on its return included a ceremony for the reopening of the doors, which had meantime been shut. After this the normal Mass was celebrated.[8]..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week
