Procession of Jesus of Nazareth in Caracas, Venezuela, 400 years of Catholic tradition

Holy Wednesday marks the end of Lent and the beginning of Easter in the Catholic religion. In the retelling of the events, narrated according to the Gospel of St. Matthew, after Palm Sunday, the Sanhedrin (council of wise men of the Jewish faith, with authority in religious and civil matters) met to stop and kill Jesus, still before the Easter holiday.

In Venezuela, the tradition of the "Nazarene" of San Pablo was established in Caracas, according to tradition, more than 400 years ago, after a miraculous act. On that occasion, a group of settlers decided to take the image of the Nazarene in procession to pray for the healing of the sick by an epidemic of scurvy. During the tour, the image stumbled upon a lemon bush, from which fruits were shed with which a drink was made that gave immediate cure to people suffering from the disease.

Since then, the parishioners pay tribute to him for his favors, offer his penance and fulfill promises, some wearing purple robes and even some wearing crowns of real thorns and without wearing shoes, accompanying him in a procession lasting between three and four hours. The most prestigious is held in the Basilica of Santa Teresa, where there is a figure of Jesus Nazareno brought in the year 1674, which symbolizes Christ carrying a cross, with a violet garb on the way to his crucifixion. It is a wood carving weighing more than 200 pounds and 6 feet tall, made of pine flanders from Seville, Spain, in the seventeenth century and attributed to Felipe de Ribas. It received the name Nazareno de San Pablo for its location in the Chapel of San Pablo where it was until it was demolished in the nineteenth century. After its preparation, blessed by Fray Antonio González de Acuña, who ordered and decreed that Holy Wednesday was offered to the miraculous Jesus of Nazareth. Subsequently, it was moved to its current location, keeping its initial denomination. Also, because of the color of the wood, they popularly call it the "Black Christ".

This year, like all previous ones, days before the celebration of Holy Wednesday, the devotees adorn the image with more than ten thousand orchids, popularly called "Flor de Mayo" (Cattleya mossiae). For his processional output, he is dressed in a purple tunic, embroidered with gold thread, with the symbols of passion, and adorned with dozens of pearls, as well as by rings and other votive offerings.