Holy Week In Zamora
This religious celebration, declared in the early 1980s of 'international touristic interest' is what the city of Zamora, Spain, is best known for.
Holy Week is the Christian week from Palm Sunday (also called Passion Sunday) through Easter Sunday. It can take place in March or April.
Holy Week in Zamora means peace and soberness, only interrupted by the sound of drums and trumpets. Thousands of fraternity members take part in the procession in true acts of faith, bearing authentic works of art by artists such as Mariano Benlliure and the local Ramón Álvarez, depicting the most important events in the life of Jesus.
These 'pasos' or figures are physically carried in the shoulders of the cargadores (known in Andalusia as 'costaleros').
The pasos are set up and maintained by hermandades and cofradías, religious brotherhoods preceding the paso.
Members of the different Easter brotherhoods, dressed in their characteristic robes, parade through the streets in penitential robes. Its members wear these penitential robes with conical hats, or "caperuzos" (referred to in other places as 'capirotes'), used to conceal the face of the wearer.
These "hermanos" carry processional candles and may walk the city streets barefoot.A brass band may accompany the group, playing funeral hymns or "marchas" written for the occasion. The most popular ones in Zamora are those of the Merlú and the funeral march composed by Thalberg (and considered to be the unofficial hymn of the town of Zamora).
Except for a handful of brotherhoods, only male members are allowed to accompany the pasos through the streets of Zamora. The first cofradía to be founded is that of La Santa Vera Cruz, dating of the 14th century. The earliest documented references to the celebration of the Passion in Zamora can be traced as far back as 1279.
The contrast between its daytime and nocturnal processions is marked: silence and meditation are characteristic of those that parade by night and in the early hours, while music and light define the daytime processions.
Read more about Holy Week In Zamora: Cofradías
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Prepare, prepare!”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
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—Anna Quindlen (20th century)