There is a broad catalog of Funeral marches that accompany the processional courtships in Guatemala. One of them is the pit, which has a peculiar story.
The historian Walter Enrique Gutiérrez comments that The pit could be considered the first march to accompany the processions. It was created in 1888 by the military musician Santiago Coronado. Before this march you have the registration of A march for an intramide procession for the Christ of the Kings, currently revered in Metropolitan Cathedral.
The piece, from the beginning, enters strongly and carries the feeling of pain, and ends with a moment of peace, explains the historian.
This march has a story. “I met the teacher Alfonso Alvarado Coronado, grandson of Coronado, and said that his grandfather took him in his arms to tell him the story of this march,” says musician Nery Racancoj.
Why nation The pit?
One night when Coronado rested at his house he had a dream and saw that one of the graves of the Merced Church. From there he saw smoke out of incense and then to Jesus, carrying his cross. At that time he heard a melody that accompanied Jesus and when he woke up he wrote what he heard in the dream. The result was this significant march for Guatemalan Lent. “Leaving Lent, it is a very large artistic expression,” says Racancoj.
Santiago Coronado was a military musician and lived from 1865 to 1934. It is believed that the march was released in 1888, in the Church La Merced. In addition, it is interpreted in the Santo Domingo temple, in its route, as well as in other courtships and concerts inside and outside Guatemala.
The Guatemalan channel Alex Muñoz shares the departure of the Merced procession in 2023, while listening The pit. Being a solemn act, attendees listen carefully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1y546uvznm
HISTORY OF JESUS DE LA MERCED
Known for its deep expression of pain and divinity, this image is not only a masterpiece of Baroque art, but also a spiritual pillar that has accompanied generations of Guatemalans for more than three centuries.
The story of Jesús Nazareno de la Merced dates back to 1582when the brotherhood dedicated to its veneration was founded, in the former convent of Our Lady of Las Mercedes in Santiago de Guatemala, today Antigua Guatemala.
According to the records, he was the sculptor Mateo Zúñiga in charge of carving the figure, with the supervision of the butlers Juan Manuel Vásquez Montiel and Nicolás Pérez de Santa María, according to the book Historical Meeting with Jesús de la Merced, of the chronicler of the city of Guatemala Miguel Alfredo Álvarez.
The work was completed by Zúñiga in 1655, and cost the brotherhood 65 pesos. The incarnation, the colors and the process that gives life and realism to the sculpture was the work of José de la Cerda, who gave the image of a unique expression of suffering and compassion.
In 1721, the image was declared “jury pattern against calamities” by the Guatemala City Council, a title that reflected the deep faith of the population in its protective power.
Over the centuries, the Guatemalans have gone to Jesus Nazareno in times of crisis, whether natural disasters or epidemics.