Last week, the 5th June, in El Paso was the beautiful fiesta of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus. It's one of those fiestas which is not all about party time but more about reflection and celebration. Firmly with a religious base, it's very much worth a visit whether religious or not.
The amazing thing about this
annual celebration is the way the decorations are made, an incredibly
painstaking labour of love using natural materials and which literally takes
months.
The procession starts from the church of the Conception of Bonanza in the
upper part of El Paso and then down into the town. Along the way the streets
are decorated with handmade lanterns to light the way, arches and tapestries of
flowers and seeds that depict various images. They are all created with natural
materials made by different neighbourhoods, groups, associations and
individuals and take months to make - and just for this day.
All the various areas of El Paso contribute including El Paso de Abajo,
Tajuya, La Rosa, Camino Viejo, Fatima, El Calvario, Tenerra, artists Rodrigo
Gonzalez de Paiz and Carlos Afonso, the Red Cross, the Center for Disability
Care in Triana and different schools in El Paso.
