Holy Week
Introduction
The Holy Week of Jerez de la Frontera is one of
the most important events of the city. It is declared National Tourist Interest
and it is one of the biggest Holy Weeks of Andalusia in the number of Brotherhoods and artistic quality. The Jerez Holy Week is a religious event but
also, is cultural and popular.
This year, the Holy Week will celebrate from 13th
to 20th of April.
History
The origin of the Jerez Holy Week is found in
the 16th century when were founded the first Brotherhoods which had as aim the
public penitence. At first, the Brotherhoods had few numbers of brothers which
were divided in two groups, brothers with candles and brothers that were
punishing themselves (it is not exist currently). Also the pasos were small
with a sculpture Christ or a Virgin Mary.
These events continued until the 18th century
when the King Carlos III removed all the Brotherhoods which they statutes were
not approved by the government, namely, all Jerez's Brotherhoods. Step by step
the Brotherhoods were changed their statutes but the political and social situation
during the 19th century was not good for them, due to, the French invasion,
anticlerical governments... which provoked the disappearance of the majority of
the Brotherhoods.
During the 20th century, the ancient Brotherhoods were refunded and were created others new, recovering the
brilliance of the event.
Regarding to the artistic heritage, in the
origin, these Brotherhoods did not have funds to do the sculptures and due to
this the materials were weak quality which provoked that nowadays, there are not
any sculpture of that time. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Brotherhoods had more funds and began to buy better sculptures, which are
conserved nowadays.
During the 18th century the Brotherhoods
followed with the same trend buying good quality sculptures. In the 19th
century with the political and social problems, the Brotherhoods did not
increase their heritage. Finally, in the 20th century, with the recovery of the Brotherhoods and the new trends of Seville’s Holy Week, the Brotherhoods began to
buy heritage, changing a little bit the style that had been doing during the
last centuries. We could say that Jerez's Holy Week, from an artistic view; it
is one of the most important of Andalusia but also, of Spain.
Description
In this event the Brotherhoods do penitence to
the Jerez's Cathedral, in a particular day each one, starting the Palm Sunday
and finishing the Easter Sunday with an average of 6 Brotherhoods per day.
(There are some Brotherhoods from the Thursday before the Palm Sunday which are
new and they do not penitence to the Cathedral). Each Brotherhood represents in
its pasos one of the scenes of the Christ's passion. The pasos are heavy
structures of wood (usually coated with gold leaf) or silver (in the case of
the Virgin Mary's pasos) in which above it, there are the sculptures. The pasos
are carried by the brothers of each Brotherhood, called "costaleros".
The numbers of the costaleros depend of each paso, but generally are 40 in the
Christ pasos (called too as paso de misterio) and 30 in the Virgin Mary pasos
(Called too as paso de palio). The costaleros are guided by the foreman and his
auxiliaries, who guide the paso through the Jerez streets.
The pasos go accompanied by music bands which
play procession marches, although exist Brotherhoods which go in totally
silence.
Each Brotherhood generally is divided in two,
on one hand the Christ procession and on the other hand the Virgin Mary
procession. At the front of the procession, one brother with a cross, called
guide cross, open the procession and the rest of the brothers follow him with
candles or Brotherhood's insignias. Each Brotherhood has different robe which
is wearing by the penitentes or nazarenos (the brothers) of the Brotherhood.
The Christ pasos or pasos de misterio, are
formed by a wood structure which is coated with gold leaf or varnished; and
cloths which cover the interior where are the costaleros. On the top, are
located the sculptures which can be, a scene of the Christ passion, as the Last
Supper for instance; Christ crucified or Christ carrying with the cross. Also
this place is decorated with flowers. The pasos's weight depends of each one,
but never is less of 700 kilos.
Regarding to the Virgin Mary paso or paso de
palio, are done of silver. The sculpture is the Virgin Mary crying, because of
her pain, which is covered with a cloth ceiling carrying by 12 silver decorated
sticks, "palio". In front of the Virgin is placed some candle rows called "candeleria".
In general, the palio and the paso's cloths and the Virgins' cloak are
embroidery with floral decoration.
Each Brotherhood has its own schedule and
itinerary, but all of them pass by the "Carrera oficial" (Official
Route) which is set of streets in which exist boxes with chairs that the people
have rented to see the Brotherhoods, and it finish in the Cathedral.
The tourists should not be worried of the
Official Route because is possible to see the Brotherhoods in other places of
the itinerary or even, in the Official Route.
Each Brotherhood has a special place in which
is recommended to see them, because the procession pass by a narrow street,
monuments or because it is a typical saeta place. (Saeta: Flamenco sing dedicated
to the sculpture and usually occur sporadically during the itinerary).
(It has to highlight that the Brotherhoods
have, besides the procession, other aims as the worships and charity
during all the year)
During the next days and weeks, it will post
new information about Brotherhoods, schedules, itinerary, recommended places
and more...
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