Life in the Times of Coronavirus: Lockdown Day 30

Today is Easter Sunday. After living in a largely Catholic country for nearly 10 years, I’ve come to recognize the traditional hallmarks of Holy Week in Catalonia. On Palm Sunday, there is a procession through the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona called La Burreta (“Little Donkey”) which commemorates Christ’s entry to Jerusalem. Deep-fried dough balls called bunyols are stacked high at every bakery in sight. On Good Friday, the Sant Martí church in Cerdanyola march in solemn procession through the streets of our town, images of Christ and the Virgin Mary resting on the shoulders devotees. The nazarenos, instantly recognizable because of their pointed capirotes (reminiscent of a particular American hate group), accompany the elderly señoras wearing veils and mantillas and the priests blessing the crowds, some of whom cry out for mercy to the passing crucified Jesus. And, of course, Easter Sunday means long lunches with the entire family.

Et CeteraCarlos CabreraApril 12, 2020faith, easter, garcia marquez, books, one hundred years of solitude, resurrection, jesus, memory, deathComment

Life in the Times of Coronavirus: Lockdown Day 28

Nearly every memory I have of church involves attending Mass with my mother. While my father and siblings slept in on Sunday mornings—he still rose at dawn to work at the mechanic shop downtown; my younger brother and sister still shared a bed—my mother would wake me up bright and early to go to St. Elizabeth’s. I was ten or perhaps eleven, and while most kids that age would have complained about having to wake up at 7:00 to go to church, I actually looked forward to going. Like most other Latino kids my age, religion was important in my household: God wasn’t an abstract concept to us; God was instead a very real presence capable of unimaginable blessings or of completely upending our lives.

Et CeteraCarlos CabreraApril 10, 2020coronavirus, covid-19, faith, religion, catholicism, literature, oscar wildeComment

Life in the Times of Coronavirus: Lockdown Day 6

Lots of people have asked me how I’m keeping sane in this government-enforced lockdown. How does one deal with the inescapable anxiety about everything from your physical well-being to your financial security to whether you’ll be able to find fresh fruit at the grocery store the next day? How does one “take the edge off” when you have to stay indoors, especially today, the first day of spring which was so bright and beautiful it felt almost cruel?