Easter week continued

The Easter weather was glorious, this is a view of the O Gafeon at low water, its a statue of a mermaid surrounded by dolphins that sits just outside the harbour.

The Processions and events continued apace with sometimes several processions a day.

The last supper celebration was particularly notable for the amount of statues and tableau, As the end of the procession approached the beginning was returning from the other end of town behind us. there must have been over a thousand people involved.
A highlight was the last supper table, which was an actual table on wheels with real food and glassware being pushed and pulled by some hefty men!

There was also a good attendance by the Roman military.

 The centurion in white was a splendid sight with the dying sunlight glinting off his armour.

Many of the different societys of Capirotis also walked again,there always seemed to be an extra group every day.

The tableau above represents the Garden of gethsemane and the sleeping apostles.

Lynne made a special effort to get up early to watch the celebrations on Good Friday morning where unbelievably the huge (and heavy ) statues were manipulated to animate the Easter story.

At one point one of the Saints, I think St Veronica wipes Jesus's face with a cloth which as if by magic unrolled to reveal the face of Christ.

The evening of Good Friday was one of the biggest and most elaborate processions where all the statues were on display, they had been building all week with a few extra ones as the story developed.

In the morning Christ had been on the cross and now he was in a glass coffin awaiting resurrection.
the cross had been on display in the church all day.

The church was also the place to see the statues and tableau close up. We enjoyed this as normally the church is closed and only opens for services. the lighting gave good views of the churches elaborate altarpieces. There was a non stop turn over of people coming into the church to pray and to just look around. Everything was done in a very relaxed and Spanish way, very little apparent organisation but everything happened as it should.

Sometimes we were unsure who some of the statues represented, some were obvious and some not so....below is St Veronica, flanked by?

The week really had been a fantastic experience, something that Lynne had always wanted to see and be a part of, the fabulous effort that had been put into the week by all involved was quite humbling, after all Cangas is not a major town by any means. it seemed that almost everyone in the town had had a part to play.

Quite astonishing and I for one at the end of the week felt as exhausted as the small children who had walked half way around the world it must have seemed by the end of the week!

Easter in Spain, quite unlike anything Lynne or I have ever experienced.............
phew, time for a rest now......