Is the cross march common to American Christians?

Question

It was a yearly routine at my Catholic school.
Every easter, we would tour the school with the cross, chanting hymns and reciting verses from the bible. It's an imitation of Jesus carrying his cross. I am wondering if this ritual is common in the USA , or is it only practiced by my middle eastern catholic school? I guess it's called "stations of the cross"?

Answer 1

The Stations of the Cross is a pretty universal Catholic devotion. Although it is not required of Catholics. There are 14 or 15 stations or events leading up to the crucifixion and death of Jesus that are remembered. Some Catholics omit one station that is considered legedary (The wiping of Jesus face by Veronica.) since we just don't know if that actually happened. And some Catholics add the Resurrection as the final station.

Here are the stations according to Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stations_of_the_Cross

Other than the stations I have mentioned that are sometimes omitted or added, most Catholics that pratice praying the stations use the ones listed in Wiki. The devotion itself though has many different ways of expression. It can b done privately as one person or with a number of people. It is frequently done publicly in Catholic churches on Fridays during Lent. Although some Catholics observe them daily. Sometimes there will be hymns, sometimes there will be group prayers, sometimes a leader will read meditations...it can look very different each time they are said.

The movie that Mel Gibson did, "The Passion of the Christ" incorporated the Stations of the Cross.

Answer 2

We do the Stations of the Cross(like that) before the Easter Vigil