From when we spent hours dancing around the fire, beating drums, while a shaman performed spells to invoke the gods. I could be talking about our Mesoamerican ancestors, but these types of activities, with their notable variations, are a constant in the cultures of the world. Collective rituals, those events where individuals merge into masses that witness a spectacle, put us in contact with our peers, strengthen the ties that unite us and harmonize our objectives in common projects.
For many, Easter is about vacation – escaping to the beach, partying and taking a break from routine – but we must not forget that it is one of the most important religious celebrations in the world. It is the commemoration of the Easter Triduum: the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, a three-day celebration that involves a process. This Holy Thursday began with the commemoration of the Eucharist, that last supper when Christ taught his disciples the gifts of bread and wine. It is surprising to think that an act so seemingly simple, such as bringing people together and promoting love, is still remembered two thousand years later.
Regardless of whether one is a believer or not, attending these ceremonies, listening to these narratives and participating in the rituals can be enriching or, at the very least, interesting. What is it between those walls that unites such different people? In the name of what are cathedrals built over the centuries? To what part of the human soul do those prayers, liturgical acts, stories and their teachings speak? I don't know the answers, but the fact that something can provoke those questions brings us closer to understanding who we are and adds to the Mystery.
What other ideas and feelings bring together such different people, in collective rituals, preceded by figures who star in the ceremony? Music, sports, art. Carlos Monsiváis dedicates a good part of his work to unraveling these movements. He sees them as a transmutation of chaos and confusion into rituals that help consolidate a collective identity. The pilgrimages to the Basilica of Guadalupe on December 12, the celebration of the triumphs of the tricolor at the Angel of Independence, the fights of the boxer Julio César Chávez. It is not something unique to Christianity or Holy Week, there are different presentations of collective passion and they all speak to us of human vitality.
Today we are faced with a new way of gathering the masses, very different from the rituals that our ancestors performed. We have thousands of people connecting to a Tiktok Live in which an influencer puts on makeup to go out. Reality television, inaugurated by the proliferation of mass media, is taken to the extreme by new technologies. The digital condition of our era is characterized by the spectacularization and dictatorship of the feed and content: the conjunction of users around ideas, memes, news and entertainment. We can witness Pope Francis' mass broadcasts and be part of them, without actually being there. Even so, whether we are there in person or not, these are times to remember what unites us, strengthen our ties and discover the depth of who we are.
#masses #masses