Easter is a very big thing in Spain, possibly the most important religious festival among a host of annual festivals. It lasts a whole week, in Cangas's case 9 days of celebrations, processions events and services. We had heard about this and were looking forward to experiencing the celebrations. We stocked up on supplies as with the exception of the panadarias, shops were shut for the majority of the time. The first weekend leading to Palm Sunday provided a taste of the coming events. A feature of Spanish Easter celebrations us the appearance of the Capirotis, these are societies of penitents who parade wearing the pointed hoods more usually associated with the inquisition or more contemporarily the Ku Klux Clan. To my mind they are reminiscent of a medieval age, being a big fan of history I find them fascinating and mysterious.....
The first procession was dedicated to our lady of sorrow ( apologies if my translation is poor)
The Capiroti of the Lady of sorrow, the symbol was a heart and sword, a symbol I associate with the sacred heart?
This is a medium sized float requiring 25+ men to carry.
As the sun set and the lights of the penitents and followers processed along the streets we were very impressed, however we failed to realise that this was merely a precursor.
Palm Sunday.
We got up early to watch the service at the town bandstand. The area was full of people all carrying palms or olive branches, the children's branches were sprouting sweets and treats. There was a statue of Jesus on a donkey raised high as the priest told the story of Palm Sunday from the raised bandstand.
The crowds were quite massive and the many children were dressed in their immaculate Sunday best!
Some young women were helping to parade the statue of Jesus as it was carried to the church for mass. Both Lynne and I were surprised at the sheer number of people who were in attendance, we would be less surprised as the week progressed. As well as the hundreds of people who were involved in the daily processions the audience lining the streets was never less than impressive.
Later there was a rather nice event which consisted of children processing around the streets of the old town in costume moving from one station of the cross to another which were staged at various locations finishing at one of the many crosses in the town.
The whole thing lasted a couple of hours starting outside the church.
As the story unfolded at various points through the town, we met Pontius Pilate and other key figures of the stations, The various set pieces saw the procession halting to expand the story, children being placed throughout the old town to await the procession, the accompanying crowd also grew. At several points prayers were sung and the collective voices in the narrow streets were particularly moving.
The finale of the crucifixion was enacted at the Cruciero de Singulis. We pass this quite often and it has never been without lit candles and flowers, it seems the locals hold it in great reverence. It was very well done and the children were brilliant.......
Later a procession of another Capiroti left the church . These were lady penitants
Again the statue was processed through the narrow streets of the old town, there was a short service in one of the many town squares.
After this we were ready for a small libation and luckily during Easter week, cocktails were on special offer so we settled down for Mohitos and tapas in a small bar opposite the marina.
We had been quite impressed by the ceremonials so far, the first Easter weekend, but we didn't know that the processions would grow in scope and scale during the following week.
I will continue in another post..........................
No comments:
Post a Comment