We were staying at our apartment in Corvera, Murcia, at Easter.
We had seen on the internet that Semana Santa or "Holy Week" in Spain was a big celebration with parades in big cities just about every day in the week leading up to Easter Sunday, some taking up to 7 hours to complete and many offering stands of temporary seats for viewing.
In the small town of Corvera we did not expect to find another parade but to our delight there was one. We were advised the parade was due to start 8.30pm Good Friday evening but, as is the Spanish way, it got under way around 9pm.
A crowd of excited villagers gathered outside Corvera's small Catholic Church which is painted a soft yellow in the dying sun of the early evening. Families with young children, some only 4 or 5 years old, arrived to join the celebrations. Across the road some older ladies arrive in traditional Spanish dress in dark colour almost appearing in mourning, all with the distinctive high Spanish hair slidesor "barrettes" and black veils.
Inside the church, small children and adults alike gathered excitedly in their groups having arrived in long flowing cassock type gowns in black and white or deep purple, many holding long pointed hoods some with eyeholes in some with their faces on view. Brightly lit inside, the statues to be carried through town of both the crucifixion and also the Virgin Mary adorned in white and gold flowers have pride of place in the little church.
Marching bands arrived, two of them, all in smart uniforms, with a range of musicians from children through to adults on drums and brass instruments.
The parade set off with one band ahead, it being Good Friday the bands’ music is somewhat mournful and the pace slow and laboured, then they are
followed by the slow marching tall-hooded 'Ku Klux Klan' type dress carrying lanterns- yet also looking decidedly baggy and bulging around the midriff?
Next a group of soldiers all marching slowly in a high stepping march the last four all carrying a wooden crucifixion piece and every so often on a given signal raising the crucifixion piece above their heads. No mean feat by the size of it!
Slowly the groups and statues and bands pass through the town with the streets lined with villagers and townsfolk come to see one of the biggest events of the year in this sleepy village.
Finally we notice the children all stood at the side of the road with their hands open - many with carrier bags… and we see the hooded walkers in the parade bringing handfuls of sweets out of their ‘baggy’ gown, some offering pin-badges to visitors. When the parade finally finished after its tour of the town around 11pm, the sleepy children walked back home with their parents with their bulging bags of treats for Easter!
If you are in Spain at Easter one year, I'd recommend a trip to one of the parades for the experience.