El Salvador suspends celebrations for feast of Divine Saviour vaticannews.va

The Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar Alas, has announced that the traditional celebrations in honour of the Divine Saviour of the World will be suspended this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. “This year, sadly,” said Archbishop Ecobar, “we will not be able to celebrate that grand procession,” which concludes with the remarkable spectacle of the “Bajada,” (Sp. “Descent”).

The country of El Salvador – Spanish for “The Saviour” – is named for Jesus Christ. Each year, the country celebrates the patronal feast of the Divine Saviour of the World on August 6, the feast of the Transfiguration. The celebrations begin on the evening of August 5th. A statue of Jesus is carried in procession through the streets. At the conclusion of the procession, the image is lowered from the float on which it has been carried and dressed in shiny white garments. The statie is then raised up on a pillar, – a stylized re-enactment of the Gospel account of Jesus’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.