Exploring the Aesthetics of Mexican-American Popular Ritual.

Abstract

This essay explores the ritual dynamics of Good Friday at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas. Four liturgies take place on this day, the most famous of which is the via crucis , or public reenactment of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus. As gripping as the via crucis is, the author focuses on a lesser-known Good Friday liturgy, a traditional Mexican service called the Pesame . In this solemn service, congregants come to pay their condolences to the grieving Mary, who performs a powerful liturgical dance. The essay explores the ways that Mary ’ s dance ignites not only a visceral aesthetics of sense but also a more encompassing aesthetics of the moral imagination. In offering this interpretation, the author draws on insights from both ritual studies and practical theology, showing how they may critically inform each other.