Next week is Holy Week in the Catholic world. So today I searched online for Holy Week pictures for young children to color (for my classes). Imagine my surprise and confusion when I found this coloring picture:
Utterly baffled, I googled "KKK Holy Week connection?" It turns out that Spain has a tradition of wearing costumes similar to KKK costumes for Holy Week. Their tradition predates the KKK. It's a rather unfortunate similarity for American tourists in Spain I imagine.
It's a mark of how strongly symbols enter our unconsciousness that I feel a gut reaction of anger and revulsion when looking at the above image, even though I know that the individuals are Christians walking the stations of the cross (which I do most years, but I usually wear jeans and a t-shirt). It's not a tradition in Peru, but it's an example of the miscommunications that can occur when crossing cultures.
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