Reenacting Holy Week

Another fun Easter tradition is reenacting Holy Week with chenille stick people. We start by making Golgotha, the mountain where Jesus was crucified, and then we make our people. We are finding all kinds of creative ways to teach the kids about Jesus' path to the cross through the events of Holy Week. For example, on Palm Sunday we find leaves or "palm branches," build Jerusalem out of blocks, and put our chenille Jesus on a donkey. Each year the boys and I get a little more creative! Though it's a bit unclear on what exact days some of the events of Holy Week occurred, here is a rough guide we use...

Events of Holy Week:

Palm Sunday:

Accompanied by his disciples, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, while crowds covered the streets ahead of him with palm branches and their coats shouting "Hosanna!"

Monday:

Jesus chased the money-changers out of the Temple

Tuesday and Wednesday:

Jesus preached and taught in Jerusalem

Maundy (Holy) Thursday:

Jesus celebrated the Feast of Passover, instituting the Sacrament of Holy Communion

After supper, Jesus and his disciples went to Gethsemane to pray, where he was later arrested by the Temple  guard and taken to a night session of the Jewish court, the Sanhedrin

Good Friday:

Jesus was taken into Roman courts, before Pontius Pilate and Herod Antipas, who sent him back to the Jewish court.

Roman soldiers took him to Golgotha, the place of the skull, where he was crucified.

Saturday:

Jesus was dead in the tomb while his disciples observed the Sabbath.

Easter Sunday: An angel met Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" at the tomb to tell them that Jesus was risen from the dead! HE'S ALIVE!

You can read through the Gospels Accounts of Jesus' Last Days to add more detail to the above list. 

• Matthew 21-28
• Mark 11-16
• Luke 19-24
• John 11-21

Coloring Golgotha

Jesus is hung on the cross on Good Friday

 On Easter Sunday morning the boys run downstairs to find the stone has been rolled away, the linen cloth (kleenex) is empty, and the angel has told Mary that Jesus is ALIVE! He has RISEN!

*Making Golgotha (from Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper)
Ingredients:
4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. salt
1 1/2 c. water
1 Tbs. oil
Mix ingredients and knead. Add small amounts of water as needed until the texture is right.
Mountain:
1. Use two backyard sticks bound together with twine to make a cross about five or six inches tall. ( I use popsicle sticks)
2. Shape the whole lump of play dough into a mountain. The size will be determined by the volume of your play dough. Leave an opening on one side into the "cave" that will represent the tomb, using your fist or a soup can to hold the space open. (I use a soup can)
3. Press the cross into the top of the mountain to form a hole deep enough to stand the cross in. Make the hole a bit larger than the actual stick b/c the hole will get smaller as the mountain bakes. Set the cross aside.
4. Twist toothpicks into the dough or press fork tines randomly around on the hill to make "footholds" for chenille stick people.
5. Press the rock that will cover the tomb against the opening, to shape a better fit. Set the stone aside.
6. Bake at 250 degrees for 4-5 hours. When cooled, color as desired w/ paint or markers.
HAVE FUN!