{"id":1059,"date":"2010-04-07T01:30:52","date_gmt":"2010-04-07T06:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/hungerrumblings\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2010-04-07T01:30:52","modified_gmt":"2010-04-07T06:30:52","slug":"in-praise-of-extravagance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/in-praise-of-extravagance\/","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Extravagance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An alfombra made of pine needles and flowers<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

I know, I know. It’s my job to point out all the ways we Americans have too\u00a0much,\u00a0spend too much, drive too much, eat too much, cram too much into our days, and leave too little space for concerns about God and\u00a0the state of our souls, the planet, or other people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But I love excess. Like last week, for example, when I shared\u00a0the extravagant spectacle of Holy Week with half a million others in Antigua, Guatemala.<\/div>\n
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Antigua\u00a0and its residents\u00a0celebrate the Triduum and Easter with processions honoring Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. Twice a day, one or two immense floats, carried by 80 male or female cargadores<\/em>, pass through the streets while a band marches behind playing dirges. Hundreds of others accompany them so that everyone has an opportunity to carry the float during its\u00a0eight-hour journey. People who live along the route\u00a0create alfombras <\/em>or carpets of colored sawdust or pine needles, fruits, and flowers.\u00a0It can take hours to construct a carpet that is destroyed in minutes as Jesus, his\u00a0carriers, and his musicians walk across\u00a0it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Alfombras of colored sawdust take hours to create<\/p><\/div>\n

Two processions, hundreds of carpets,\u00a0thousands of participants, and hundreds of thousands of observers each day added up to a very intense celebration. How boring life would be if it were simple\u00a0all the time. Excess is part of life; it’s what our festivals and celebration are all about. And every now and then–like at the\u00a0end of 40 days of Lent–how wonderful it feels to pull out all the stops and celebrate Jesus’s gift to us.<\/div>\n
Anne Basye, Sustaining Simplicity<\/em><\/div>\n
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After the procession, destroyed!<\/p><\/div>\n

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An alfombra made of pine needles and flowers I know, I know. It’s my job to point out all the ways we Americans have too\u00a0much,\u00a0spend too much, drive too much, eat too much, cram too much into our days, and leave too little space for concerns about God and\u00a0the state of our souls, the planet, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn Praise of Extravagance - ELCA World Hunger<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/in-praise-of-extravagance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Praise of Extravagance - ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An alfombra made of pine needles and flowers I know, I know. It’s my job to point out all the ways we Americans have too\u00a0much,\u00a0spend too much, drive too much, eat too much, cram too much into our days, and leave too little space for concerns about God and\u00a0the state of our souls, the planet, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/in-praise-of-extravagance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ELCA World Hunger\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-07T06:30:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/worldhunger\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2010\/04\/IMG_2003-1024x768.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Basye\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Basye\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/in-praise-of-extravagance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/in-praise-of-extravagance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anne Basye\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/209f6f1d6570a27deb6812817841eb7c\"},\"headline\":\"In Praise of Extravagance\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-04-07T06:30:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/in-praise-of-extravagance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":305,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/in-praise-of-extravagance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/52\\\/hungerrumblings\\\/2010\\\/04\\\/IMG_2003-300x225.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Post\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/in-praise-of-extravagance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.elca.org\\\/worldhunger\\\/in-praise-of-extravagance\\\/\",\"name\":\"In Praise of Extravagance - 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