Holy Cross and Construction Worker Day on May 3rd
A few days ago, on May 3rd, Pamela, from Tenerife Daily Photo, posted a somehow modest cross for the Día de la Cruz if we consider that all around the Canary Islands the word cross, cruz in Spanish, is present in many of the towns like Santa Cruz, Puerto de la Cruz, et-cetera. Come on Pamela, you can do much better than that! 
So I had to do a follow up, even if it is a few days later and a few kilometers away from Santa Cruz.
I knew it was the Day of the Holy Cross, which is also the Day of the Construction Worker in many countries in Latin America, but I was not able to get a shot that day because we were in the process of moving and there were a lot errands and things to do. Two days later I was able to get a shot of a decorated cross at a construction site. The Day of the Santa Cruz is also celebrated as the construction worker’s day which means the architect, engineer or landlord throws a party for the construction workers which includes a food feast and alcoholic beverages (most of the time, but not necessarily). The construction worker make a cross from the materials available on site and the post it somewhere so everybody can see it. Most of the time, they also decorate the cross.
The legend has it that when they were unburying Jerusalem, they found three crosses, one of them larger than the other two. When some of the diggers touch the larger cross, their ailments healed and the cross were thought to be miraculous. The priests on site called a funeral passing by and the dead man’s hand was made to touch the cross and he resurrected and walked away. The cross was taken immediately to Rome, the Vatican to be precise, and a chapel was built for it. This chapel was built in record time and for this reason and for the fact that the man who resurrected was a construction worker who had died while at work a few days earlier, this date became the day of the construction worker. All of this as seen on tv, a few details more or less.
Don’t forget to browse over Santa Cruz category at Wikipedia to get an idea of how far the Spaniards and Portuguese took those two words.
Daily Content
He could be straight from Anderson with those droopy drawers and that hat. 
May 8th, 2007
LOL! No, I don’t think I could have done any better than to provide the lead and let someone else do the hard work really.
Actually, not being either catholic or religious, I had no idea of the resurected bulder story. Yes, I could have got pictures of decorated crosses, if I’d gone out to Puerto or Santa Cruz, but what you don’t know is that, apart from odd hours here and there, I’ve been been flat on my back for the last week or so after having a fall on our hard, tiled floors. Nothing broken, just a bruised behind, but not fit to go out. Or not fit to be LET out maybe? 
May 8th, 2007
Great story, Rudy! When you say it’s as seen on tv, is it from a Discovery Channel piece? It’s sounds awfully familiar.
May 9th, 2007
well rudy i like the term unburyed! we would just say dug up. a lot of people put faith in things, that are wood or stone.
May 9th, 2007
Tienes una página muy interesante, con buen contenido y buenas fotografías.
May 9th, 2007
What a neat idea. I love this holiday!
May 11th, 2007
I´ve noticed these around Antigua. Glad to know why.
I have a similar shot as well. It´s a nice tradition.
May 17th, 2007
[...] the regular visitors and commentators for not responding your feedback and inquiries lately. The move to a new house has taken all the available time and beside we are without internet service at home. We will be [...]
May 3rd, 2008
[...] you can find a fragment of the text I published last year regarding this celebration: The legend has it that when they were unburying Jerusalem, they found [...]