History

INTRODUCTION

It is notorious that the celebration of Holy Week in Cieza, as such, takes place in the period of time between Friday of Dolores (the day before Palm Sunday) and Easter Sunday, although in our town the Processional Parades are They anticipate with various Transfers from the beginning of Lent and have an inaugural celebration on Passion Sunday, seven days before Palm Sunday, with the Processional Transfer of the Banners and the solemn Proclamation, events that have a very wide popular following.

Since Holy Week is determined in the annual calendar by the Jewish Passover, of variable date, its celebration oscillates between the second half of March and the first half of April. To calculate its exact date, it is necessary to go to the astronomical calendar and to a convoluted formulation rule, but of clear content, given that Easter Sunday is located on the first Sunday after the first full moon that takes place after the equinox of spring. So, as an example, to find out when the date of Holy Week in the year 2023 is, we have to perform the following calculation: Find out when the first full moon will be after March 21 (spring equinox), on Thursday, April 16 from 2023; and once this Full Moon of the Astronomical calendar is known, we only have to go to the following Sunday, April 9, 2023, which will be Easter Sunday (Resurrection Sunday).

Due to its coincidence with the beginning of spring, Holy Week benefits from the unique and beautiful setting that, on those dates, the Vega de Cieza offers, whose flowering is, in fairness, one of its main attractions from the landscape point of view .

On the occasion of the flowering, a whole calendar of tourist-cultural activities has been established, in which tourist agencies, local restaurants and hiking groups collaborate.

In any case, the activities organized around Holy Week are not limited exclusively to the dates on which it takes place. The entire Lenten calendar is full of Brotherhood activities, both liturgical and cultural (conference cycles, presentations of new artistic works, concerts, etc.), in addition to the processional transfers of images to the historic center of the town; Also, with less intensity, these activities are distributed throughout the year, in the form of participation in other ciezan festivities (San Bartolomé Fair, Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Good Success and Christmas) as in others celebrated with specific purposes.

Precisely, apart from the El Anda Magazine, the Board of Passion Brotherhoods annually publishes a detailed brochure in which all the activities related to Holy Week that are organized throughout the year are specified.

ORIGIN

It is during the preaching of San Vicente Ferrer in Cieza in the year 1411 when he had to pay the ground for the birth of the first Brotherhood of our town linked to the celebrations of Holy Week: the Brotherhood of the Blood of Christ, which could have been in its beginnings a Brotherhood of flagellants. With that mark of antiquity it is collected, by mandate of Felipe II, the Bachelor Alonso Marín y Mena in the year 1579 in his Description and Relation of the Villa de Cieza. “On the twenty-fifth day of the month of March, the year of the birth of our redeemer Jesus Christ, one thousand five hundred and seventy-nine, the bachelor Alonso Marín y Mena, aged forty, and Joan García, the elder, aged eighty , and Martín Ruiz de Soler, the old man, aged seventy-one, neighbors and natives of said town... After forty chapters they said: there are three Brotherhoods, one of the said Apostle Saint Bartholomew, another of the Blood of Christ, and another of the Sweet and Most Holy Name of Jhesus”, testimony that allows us to ensure that both Brotherhoods were fully in force throughout the s. XVI, verifying its antiquity in mandates and testaments of the time.

XVII CENTURY

In 1614, the Hermitage of the Holy Christ of Calvary (today, of the Holy Christ of Consuelo) was built on a hill outside the walls, and on an old humilladero, for which a crucified man was commissioned (1612) under that same dedication and the construction of the stations of a Via Crucis on the slope of said hill. Promoted by the Franciscans at dawn from Thursday to Good Friday, a Via Crucis was carried out with the aforementioned Image, in force until the end of the s. XIX, in which long lines of penitents paraded behind the parish Cross and its Banner making profession of faith and praying.

As for the Brotherhood of the Blood of Christ, it must have taken over at the beginning of the s. XVII the prominence of the primitive Processions of Cieza, since from that moment it had a crucified (attributed by the local chronicler, from the beginning of the 20th century, Ramón Mª Capdevila to Juan de Rigusteza). To that Image will be added as the century progresses a Nazarene with the cross on his back (as stated by the aforementioned Ramón Mª Capdevila) and a Virgin of Solitude (according to a document transferring its belongings after death of his butler), with which (as can be deduced from the request for constitutions of the Brotherhoods of Jesús Nazareno and Ntra. Sra. de la Soledad from the end of that century, in which it is revealed that both Pasos have already paraded long ago) will lead the Processions of Holy Thursday in the evening (seed of the Arrest and the current General Procession of Holy Wednesday) and Good Friday in the morning (genesis of the current Procession of the Penitent), in which the aforementioned Nazarene would parade respectively lit and with the cross on his back, as he does today.

After settling in the Hermitage of San Sebastián at the beginning of the last third of the century, the Franciscans will contribute to the continuity of the Procession of the Holy Burial on Good Friday afternoon, moving the aforementioned Crucified together with a mourning image of the Virgin (Our Señora de la Soledad) to the Parish, where the Images were placed on an altar; It is documented that the Brotherhood starred in the evening of this day in the Act of Descent and the Procession of the Holy Burial with an Image of the dead Christ placed in an urn (as we can interpret from the Capitulations of 1682 for the foundation of the Convent of San Joaquín and the Book of Accounts of the Brotherhood of Jesus in which there is a payment for the repair of the same) accompanied by the aforementioned Virgin.

In 1692, after breaking away from the Brotherhood of the Blood, the Brotherhood of Jesus Nazareno (today the Brotherhood of Jesus –Nazareno–) and that of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (today the Brotherhood of María Santísima de la Soledad), simultaneously requested constitutions own, being linked to each other in their cults until the beginning of the s. xx. This circumstance, transcendental for the history of Holy Week in Cieza, was due to the desire of the local nobility to disassociate themselves from a Brotherhood such as that of the Blood, made up mainly of artisans of all trades, as well as a desire to reaffirm themselves as socially privileged class.

On the other hand, the newborn Brotherhood of Jesus will absorb the old Brotherhood of the Dulce y Santísimo Nombre de Jesús, of a devotional nature. This fact seems more than evident since still in the s. XX the Brotherhood of Jesus organizes and finances the Function of the Dulce Nombre de Jesús.

A capitular act of 1693 reveals how the Processional Parades had been established at the end of the s. XVII. "This town has the custom and devotion to attend different festivals and general processions by decrees and boots so that at all times it is recorded that those that are agreed upon were the Dulce Nombre de Jesús, Purification of Our Lady, that of Palm Sunday, the of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, that of the Annunciation of Our Lady, Mrs., that of the glorious Apostle Saint Bartholomew... and that all the lords of the chapter have the obligation to attend them without having legitimate impediment under penalty of one pound of wax..." . The one on Holy Thursday would take place in the evening of this day with the participation of the Images of Jesús Nazareno and Nuestra Señora de la Soledad. The one on Good Friday is not the Via Crucis at dawn, but refers to the two Processions that, as previously mentioned, took place that day: one, in the morning, a repetition of the one on Holy Thursday, which The Crucified of the Brotherhood of the Blood would probably be added; the other, that of the Holy Burial, in the evening.

Finally, we also have evidence in this century of the celebration, on the morning of Resurrection Sunday, of another Procession, preceding the current one of the Risen One.

CENTURY XVIII

The new century will witness important changes and innovations; For example, the first documentary references to the dedication of the Santísimo Cristo del Consuelo (called Cristo del Calvario since his arrival in Cieza in 1612, as previously mentioned). The Image was destroyed during the Civil War and replaced at the end of the of this by another of the same date and invoice that is the oldest of all those that participate in our Processions today), which will have its own chapel in the parish church from this time (according to what is stated in mandates and wills), because it is transferred to this frequently in prayer from his Hermitage.

For its part, the Brotherhood of the Blood will be diluted until it disappears in the middle of the century. Its titular Image, if it corresponds to the documented Image of Cristo de la Misericordia (a Crucified donated to the Convent of the Immaculate Conception a few years after its construction, whose aesthetics artistically places it between the 16th and 17th centuries, and which could replace to a previous one), will continue to participate in the Processional Parades until the end of the s. XIX; On the other hand, the Brotherhood of Jesús Nazareno will take charge of the Paso de la Urna (popularly known as the Bed of Christ) with which the Procession of the Holy Burial takes place. Likewise, following the Murcian chronicler and journalist Don Carlos Valcárcel, the present century will bring with it the birth of the Act of Arrest, probably linked then to the Holy Thursday Procession.

In 1724 the Brotherhood of San Pedro was founded, oriented towards a first period that reached the middle of the s. XIX to the worship and celebration of the feast of the Saint, and whose entry into it is allowed in this first period only to the clergy.

The first Book of Minutes of the Confraternity of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad preserved (1730) demonstrates the validity in the middle of this century of the Procession of the Risen Jesus early on Easter Sunday in which said Confraternity processions with its titular Image accompanying to an Image of the Risen Jesus, of which we know that during the following century he received worship in the chapel of the Santísimo de la Parroquial.

Precisely an Act of the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad reveals the existence in 1767 of four Processions: one in the evening of Holy Thursday; two in the morning and in the evening of Good Friday respectively; and the fourth and last on the morning of Easter Sunday.

On the other hand, at the end of this century the Sermon on Agony will begin to be celebrated at three in the afternoon, which will be uninterrupted until its suppression in the early forties of the s. XX, years in which the Sermon of the Seven Words also tried to be implanted, without success, changing its name to the Function during that brief period of time Oratorio de Agonía y Sermon de las Siete Palabras.

Similarly, the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad promotes since 1785, at the end of the Procession of the Holy Burial, the Sermon of Soledad, valid until the last third of the s. XX and of which today a slight reminiscence is preserved.

Finally, the census carried out at the end of the s. XVIII as a result of the Decree of the Count of Aranda confirms the existence and legality in Cieza of two Passionate Brotherhoods: Jesús and Soledad; in addition to others like the one of Souls or the one of the Santísimo, that did not participate in the Processions.

XIX CENTURY

From the Books of Minutes we know that, with some exceptions (acquisition of the Paso de La Oración del Huerto or El Señor de la Columna by the Brotherhood of Jesus, creation of the Brotherhood of the Convocatoria de Jesús – organizer since its foundation of the Arrest in the afternoon of Holy Wednesday–,...), the first third of the s. XIX supposed a stagnation in the Holy Week of Cieza; There are two causes that seem to motivate this situation: the War of Independence in 1808 and the successive epidemics that, like the cholera of 1812, profusely affected the residents of Cieza. To these, and as the century progresses, others will be added (suppression of some religious orders, confiscations, expansion of liberalism, and confrontation between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat) that in Cieza will be reflected in a certain abandonment of the Cofrade world.

It will be then when, to remedy the situation, a protectorate for the conservation of the heritage of the Brotherhoods will take shape, which will make families of the local bourgeoisie their own: they flourish like this, gaining an unusual role until then and with a rank similar to or even superior to that of the own Brotherhoods, Camarerías and Stewardships, historically very important since then and until the middle of the s. XX, inasmuch as Waitresses and Butlers become custodians of the assets of the Brotherhoods and responsible for their perfect preservation; Camarerías and Stewardships ended at the end of the s. XIX in authentic patronage in which the figure of the Waitress or the Butler, still in force today in a reduced number of Steps, was the one who assumed the expenses caused by the arrangement of the Step and even the execution of new Steps, on which they maintain property rights, above even the Brotherhood under whose auspices they procession.

This is the only way to explain the relaunch experienced by Holy Week in the last third of the s. XIX, a time in which the wealthy families of the town approach the realization of new Steps (Santa María Magdalena, La Samaritana, Santísima Virgen de los Dolores, Santísima Virgen del Amor Hermoso...) and favor the creation of new Brotherhoods (San Juan, Santa Verónica) or the reorganization of others (San Pedro).

He s. XIX will also witness the consolidation of the Act -Representation, Sermon and Procession- of the Arrest, which is already celebrated outside the Holy Thursday Procession, which in turn is configured as a General Procession, as well as the Courtesy in the framework of the Resurrection Sunday Procession; and the emergence, in its last decades, of a very characteristic event of Holy Week in Ciez, the Bringing of the Saints (Holy Thursday in the afternoon until the beginning of the thirties of the 20th century and Holy Wednesday in the afternoon since then until now), as a preamble to the General Procession, from the extra-walls Hermitage of the Santísimo Cristo del Consuelo to the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.

Thus, in the last quarter of a century the Parades have been structured around Holy Wednesday (Arrest), Holy Thursday (General Procession), Good Friday in the morning (Procession of the Penitent or of the Crosses), Good Friday in the afternoon (Procession of the Holy Burial) and Easter Sunday (Procession of the Risen One).

Holy Week in Ciez even has a date that, over the years, the Bugle and Drum Bands had turned into their own heritage: Dolores Friday. Already from the s. XIX the Brotherhood of the Convocation, the popular "Armaos", blew their bugles and drums on the eve of Passion Week; well into the new century, the night of Friday of Dolores would be reserved for the Armaos and, later, successively, the Bands of the other Brotherhoods and the rest of the town to show the residents of Cieza the marches they had been rehearsing throughout year. From the end of the s. On the other hand, the first preserved photographic testimonies of Holy Week in Ciez date from the XIX century.

XX AND XXI CENTURIES

The initial decades of the new century will witness the birth in 1914 of the Permanent Board of Processions, today the Board of Passion Brotherhoods, derived from the socio-economic circumstances of the moment. The following years will also witness the constitution of the Brotherhood of the Holy Christ of Agony (founder of the Procession of Silence) and of the Holy Christ of Consuelo (subsidiary of the cult Brotherhood of the same name), and the strengthening of the ties that They linked the Pasos that did not have their own Brotherhood with certain trades (San Pedro with the farmers, the Magdalena with the esparto baskets, La Samaritana with those related to weaving...) possibly to ensure their departure in Procession.

The Civil War will mean the disarticulation of the structure of the Brotherhoods that lose a very important and essential part of their patrimony; At the end, the Brotherhoods undergo a considerable transformation and the number of these, after a complicated process of re-foundation (the Brotherhood of the Convocation becomes the Roman Tercio of the Holy Sepulchre; Steps such as San Pedro, La Samaritana, Santa María Magdalena or the Blessed Virgin of Sorrows are constituted in Brotherhoods) and reorganization of the previously existing ones (the Brotherhood of Jesus will give rise to the Brotherhoods of Jesus Nazareno, La Oración del Huerto and El Santo Sepulcro, Jesús Resucitado) and the successive incorporation of other such as the Reclining Christ and Virgin of Sorrow, the Descent of Christ and the Kiss of Judas, the Most Holy Christ of Forgiveness or Our Lady of Grace and Hope, will once again be increased to give rise to the range of colors that survives today, to which was added to end of the s. XX the Brotherhood of Souls, now with a passion character, to currently make up a total of eighteen Brotherhoods that, before thousands of spectators and through its two itineraries, which combine the traditional flavor of the streets and corners of the old town, and the breadth and public reception capacity of the city center, they participate with their forty-three Pasos, always carried on their shoulders, and with their almost six thousand Brotherhood in their eleven Processions (de la Palma, Via Crucis Processional of the Holy Christ of Blood, Order and Procession of the Arrest, General, of the Children of Mary, of Silence, of the Penitent, of the Holy Burial, of the Descent of Christ into Hell, Infant Procession, and Courtesy and Procession of the Risen Jesus).

But throughout these six centuries the great beneficiary has undoubtedly been the socio-cultural and patrimonial baggage that the Brotherhoods have collected and that has seen a notable increase in quantity and quality in the last third of the s. xx; Proof of this are the three Processions born in this period (of the Children of Mary, of the Descent of Christ into Hell, and the Processional Via Crucis of the Holy Christ of the Blood), in addition to the Parade of the Tercios Infantiles (Children's Procession that It currently has thirteen Pasos, which gives an idea of how deeply rooted the festival is in the town and how assured its future is at the same time), the twenty-four Pasos (the most recent, already in full s. XXI, Ntra. Sra. de la Amargura, La Coronación de Espinas and Las Santas Mujeres camino del Sepulcro) and countless belongings that have come to swell the heritage of Holy Week in Ciez, the constant efforts and actions aimed at the restoration and conservation of the itself, and finally the cults, events, publications and activities organized by the Brotherhoods throughout the year, and which represent a high percentage of the socio-cultural and leisure offer of the city.

CONTINUITY IN TIME

As for the organization of Holy Week, for more than a century the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods has been in charge, in its capacity as Superior Council of Brotherhoods, for the organization of all Acts and Activities of a general nature and of all Processional parades of the Ciezana Holy Week. The eighteen Passionate Brotherhoods of the city are made up of the Junta de Hermandades Pasionarias, which, like it, have Statutes approved by the competent authority and their own legal capacity, and which are responsible for organizing their own Acts and Activities.

The Holy Week of Cieza, has remained in the streets of Cieza, as we have commented in the chapter of The Origin, History and Antiquity, since 1614, but there is a date that the Holy Week of Cieza has as the beginning of a continuity that it has not been possible to eliminate, discounted of course is the Spanish Civil War and the last Covid pandemic, this being that of March 30, 1914, where the Board of Processions of Cieza is constituted, which will give rise to today's Board of Brotherhoods Pasionarias de Cieza, which brings together all the Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of the town.

It is clear that since we have the possibility of making publications, El Anda, 1931, is the publication par excellence of the JHP (Junta de Hermandades Pasionarias), which has come year after year, encouraging the spirit of Holy Week in the population of Cieza. .

During the year 2020, Easter could not be celebrated due to the health situation derived from the Covid pandemic. During 2021, and once the Pandemic was subsiding, a different Holy Week took place, so that the celebration of the party could last, two types of activities were carried out in reference to Holy Week itself. In one of them, the way of doing Holy Week was changed, that is to say, changing the way of presenting it or seeing it, it has always been to "take the steps out into the street", and it was changed for the viewer to go to see the steps to his House-Museum. And another way of using “virtual” Holy Week where Holy Week in Cieza was made known on Social Networks, in a different programming than usual. Proof of this is reflected from our YouTube Channel; Being this channel the one that is used mostly due to its characteristics, as a means of publications of the Board of Brotherhoods and of the Holy Week of Cieza. (https://www.youtube.com/@JHPCieza)

On the occasion of the flowering, a whole calendar of tourist-cultural activities is established (https://www.floracioncieza.es/), in which tourist agencies, local restaurants and hiking groups collaborate, as well as Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of Holy Week in Cieza.

In any case, the activities organized around Holy Week are not limited exclusively to the dates on which it takes place. The entire Lenten calendar is full of Brotherhood activities, both liturgical and cultural (conference cycles, presentations of new artistic works, concerts, etc.), in addition to the processional transfers of images to the historic center of the town; also, with less intensity, these activities are distributed throughout the year, in the form of participation in the other ciezanas festivities (Fair of San Bartolomé, Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Good Success and Christmas) as in others celebrated with specific purposes. See "what to do in Cieza, tourist offer for the whole year". (https://www.murciaturistica.es/es/cieza/)

THE CULTURAL VALUE OF THE FESTIVAL, ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND ITS SCOPE AS A TOURIST ATTRACTIVE, ORIGINALITY AND DIVERSITY OF THE ACTS THAT ARE CARRIED OUT

Our Easter celebrations have their roots in the s. XV, being attested the existence of the first Steps in the s. XVI, and two Brotherhoods currently in force in the s. XVII (although with antecedents in the previous century): Jesús –Nazareno– and Soledad. Along the s. In the 19th century, mainly in the last quarter of a century, Holy Week in Cieza undergoes an unprecedented development with the acquisition of new Pasos and the constitution of new Brotherhoods, such as those of San Juan and La Santa Verónica; already in the s. XX the Brotherhoods of the Stmo are born. Cristo del Consuelo –this as a subsidiary of the cult of the same name and in force at least since the previous century–, of the Stmo. Christ of the Agony, and of the Stmo. Reclining Christ and Virgin of Sorrow (1930s); those of La Oración del Huerto and El Santo Sepulcro, Santa María Magdalena, Jesús Resucitado, Santísima Virgen de los Dolores, and San Pedro – these around Steps that had been participating previously (some since the 17th century, others since the 19th century). ) in the Processions but who did not have their own Brotherhood or who belonged to another– (1940s); those of La Samaritana –this one around a Paso that participates in the Processions since the end of the s. XIX– (years 50), of the Descent of Christ and Kiss of Judas (years 60), of Our Lady of Grace and Hope, and of the Stmo. Christ of Forgiveness (1970s), and finally the Brotherhood of Souls (1990s); all of them, together with the Brotherhood of uncertain origin (probably from the end of the 18th or beginning of the 19th century and then a subsidiary of that of Jesus –Nazareno–) known as “de la Convocatoria” –currently and since the middle of the s. XX Roman Third of the Holy Sepulchre–, add up to the eighteen Brotherhoods that today make up the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods, established in 1914 and, therefore, the oldest Superior Council of Brotherhoods in the Region of Murcia and one of the oldest in Spain.

Parallel to the evolution of the Brotherhoods, the evolution of the Processions runs, four, present since the s. XVII on the three great days of Passion Week (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday); Processions that from the s. XIX will be configured as the Procession of the Arrest (currently Holy Tuesday night), Procession of the Penitent, Calvary or Crosses (Good Friday morning), Procession of the Holy Burial (Good Friday night) and Procession of the Resurrected ( Easter Sunday morning). These are joined, probably in the first half of the s. XIX the General Procession (currently Holy Wednesday night), while the s. XX observes the gradual implantation of the Processions of Silence (Holy Thursday at night), of La Palma (Palm Sunday in the morning) and of the Children of Mary (Holy Thursday in the afternoon); and the first years of the s. XXI the birth or rebirth of two others: the Processional Via Crucis of the Stmo. Cristo de la Sangre (Holy Monday night) and the Procession of the Descent of Christ into Hell (Holy Saturday morning). All of this allows us to prove, according to existing documentation, the continuity of Holy Week in Cieza during the Modern and Contemporary Ages, a continuity that was only interrupted by the Civil War (1936-1939).

Unlike other towns in which each Brotherhood organizes or has its own Procession, or parades for a single day, Cieza is one of the few Spanish towns in which the Processions have been accommodating their celebration to the chronological succession of events. narrated by the evangelists66, and with this premise, the Steps of the different Brotherhoods have been located in those, in such a way that together with Processions in which, due to their conception and close implantation, only one Step participates, and therefore only one Brotherhood, in those of older origin, the vast majority do so, depending only on the Paso with which they are going to parade, which accommodates the evangelical passage that narrates each Procession.

In its first centuries of existence, the Processions were adjusted in days and hours to the facts related by the evangelists; thus on Holy Thursday, after the celebration of the sacred Offices that commemorated the last supper, the Procession of the Arrest took place; On Good Friday morning, a Crucified One would go out into the street, the genesis of the Calvary Procession, while in the afternoon the Holy Burial was celebrated; Finally, in the early hours of Sunday, the Procession of the Risen One took place.

With the incorporation of new Steps at the beginning of the 19th century, especially to the Holy Thursday Procession, the Arrest is configured as an isolated Act, moving for this purpose to Wednesday and the Thursday Procession being configured as the General one.

At the end of the first third of the s. In the XX century, the establishment of the Procession of Silence at dawn from Holy Thursday to Good Friday and the celebration of the Easter Communion conditions the celebration of the General Procession –already extensive by then in number of participants and duration–, which has to come before the Holy Wednesday, causing the Arrest to be definitively located on Holy Tuesday.

Since then, the newly created Processions have gradually adapted to the liturgy of each day (since the middle of the 20th century, the Procession of La Palma on Palm Sunday morning; and since the beginning of the 21st century, the Procession of the Descent of Christ to Hell at dawn on Holy Saturday), or to the gaps left by the calendar for those with a more allegorical than historical foundation (since the last third of the 20th century, the Procession of the Children of Mary on Thursday afternoon Holy).

As far as the Pasos are concerned, they have been located in general terms in those Processions in which their presence was pertinent. However, at two moments in history this structure of distribution of Steps seems to be disrupted: the first, at the end of the s. XIX when the proliferation of new Steps makes their participation in various Parades more permissive (perhaps simply due to the investment made in their acquisition); the second at the end of the sixties and in the following one (perhaps because it was thought that the Processions acquired more importance and attractiveness the more Pasos and Cofradías participated in them).

All of this originated, as far as the relationship "Steps/processional theme" is concerned, a series of repetitions and anachronisms in certain Processional Parades, some of which had been corrected over the years, although others still existed; For this reason, the General Assembly of the Junta de Hermandades Pasionarias agreed between 2001 and 2004 on a review of said Processions and of the Steps participating in them, which came into effect in 2010 in accordance with the following premises: the first, to avoid the parade of the same Step in more than two Processions; and the second, the disappearance of certain Steps of some of them and their relocation in that other one in which they had a place by virtue of the passage of the Passion that they recalled (Procession of the Arrest, on the night of Holy Tuesday, which evokes the events that occurred from the celebration of dinner to the arrest of Jesus; General Procession, on the night of Holy Wednesday, which involves a panoramic review of the most significant moments and characters of the Passion and Death of Jesus, and of those other previous scenes that anticipated; Procession of the Penitent, on Good Friday morning, which runs from dawn, that is, from the presentation of Jesus to the people and his condemnation, until his death on the Cross; Procession of the Holy Burial, on Friday night Saint, which includes the passages referring to the descent of Christ from the Cross and his Burial).

This has also meant a significant investment in heritage, since the Brotherhoods, by eliminating repetitions or by changing Day and Procession Steps, have not wanted to give up their departure in them, so they have acquired new Steps (13 since 1999, which include both the cult images themselves and the thrones on which they parade) which has contributed, on the other hand, to completing the scenic picture of our Processions, at the same time that it has endowed it with a unique nuance that is different from that of the others. to each one of them, consequently increasing the attraction that each of the Processional Parades, as well as the set of all of them, can enclose in itself for the spectator, both inside and outside, from a merely narrative point of view or aesthetic.

The development of the career or itinerary of the Procession in Cieza has gone parallel to the urban development of the city, but always around the axis of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption (the Parish)-Convent of San Joaquín (the old convent Franciscan), one and the other building (declared Assets of Cultural Interest) referents in the future of Holy Week in Ciez (not in vain the Franciscans will be the great promoters of it) and points of obligatory passage of each and every one of the Processions (in fact, as referred to later, all those Steps whose size allows it to join the Processional procession from the Basilica of Ntra. Sra. de la Asunción).

Originally reduced to the streets adjacent to the Plaza de la Iglesia de la Asunción (Plaza Mayor), over the centuries the parades extended their route to practically all of what is now the old-historical center of the city , some processions running along the avenue that marked its limit, today called Calle de Mesones (at that time the route of the old Murcia-Madrid highway), and the vast majority of them entering the modern layout of the city through from the wide avenue of the Paseo and crossing, on the return, the Plaza de España, with which the Ciezan Processions now have a section with sufficient capacity to accommodate a growing population that as a public met in them , but with which it is also achieved that, given the growing number of Brotherhood members, the head and tail of the parade do not coincide and the Procession itself collapses.

It is finally in the early seventies of the past s. XX, and for similar reasons, when the route undergoes a new restructuring, which takes it, without renouncing the traditional streets, to penetrate the modern area of the city. Since then, and after the last reform in the middle of the second decade of the 21st century, Holy Week in Cieza has three itineraries: that of the Morning Processions, which runs 70% through the modern center of the city , that of the nocturnal ones, which reduce this passage through the contemporary layout to 50%, to extend it through the Asunción neighborhood, and finally that of the four Processions in which two brotherhoods parade alone, which with small variations run from practically entirely through the old town of Cieza.

Thus, the Processions that open and close the Passion Week (Procession of La Palma and Procession of the Risen One), in which the massive and festive participation of the people is evident, seek out the spaces of wide and sunny streets and squares in an itinerary that It also shares perhaps the most populous, extensive and contemplated of all the Processions, that of the Penitent on Good Friday morning. The great afternoon-night processions of Ciez (Procession of the Arrest, General and Holy Burial, respectively on the nights of Tuesday, Wednesday and Good Friday) start from the Plaza Mayor, in the heart of the historic center of the city, to trace their route between the shadows of the long and narrow streets of the old quarter, and later opening up to the wide spaces of the city, covering a good part of the Paseo and the Plaza de España. For its part, the Via Crucis-Processional of the Stmo. Cristo de la Sangre (Holy Monday night), the Procession of Nuestra Señora de Gracia y Esperanza (Holy Thursday afternoon) and Silence (early morning from Holy Thursday to Good Friday) seek the overwhelming atmosphere that is recreated in the squares and small squares , seek the seclusion of the streets and alleys of the old town. Finally, by the light of the torches, the Procession of Christ's Descent into Hell takes to the streets (early morning from Good Friday to Glory Saturday); medieval staging for a parade that aims to recreate the origins as it passes through the recesses of the walled perimeter of the oldest part of the city.

All of them, however, are organized from the Plaza Mayor, the center of the old-historical quarter of the city; there the Steps that leave the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption (located in said square) converge with those that do so from the House of Saints or Houses of the Brotherhoods in the outskirts of it. This fact, which may seem curious, is only due to the fact that the width of many of the Steps that have been carried out since the last decade of the seventies is greater than that of the portico of the Basilica, so that its exit from the itself is not physically possible.

Finally, on the other hand, we point out other factors that enhance the urban route through which the Procession race is traced: the stoppage of the works that could be found in execution during Holy Week, the care and ornamentation of the garden areas through which the Parades take place. , as well as street cleaning and garbage collection; the adornment of balconies and facades with the national flag, with the traditional bedspreads and for a decade with hangings with the municipal coat of arms, with that of the Junta de Hermandades Pasionarias or with that of the Brotherhoods; and finally the placement of pennants along the different itineraries of the Procession.

Holy Week in Cieza is above all a great coexistence party in which the entire town is invited to participate in harmony, in terms of respect and equality, without social or any other type of distinction.

Two symbols of the values that preside over our Processions, hallmarks in addition to Holy Week in Ciez, are flowers and candies.

Caramel in Cieza is synonymous with sharing, generosity, and hospitality; although candy is present in almost all the processions, it has its culminating moment in the Procession of the Risen Christ on the morning of Easter Sunday, when the sky of Cieza is filled with thousands and thousands of candies in an original "battle" in which they participate Brothers and public. On the other hand, around the flowers with which the Pasos are adorned in decorative compositions that in themselves constitute a permanent exhibition of creativity and compositional originality, a deep-rooted popular tradition has been created consisting of the fact that at the end of each Procession the flowers are distributed between the Brothers and the public that attends the collection of the Saints, except for those of the Holy Burial Procession, which are reserved for the offering of flowers that the Brotherhoods make to their deceased Brothers in the cemetery on Holy Saturday. In addition, since its first processional outing, the making of the monumental cloak of Our Lady of Grace and Hope (Procession of the Children of Mary on the afternoon of Holy Thursday) was institutionalized by the Brothers of the Brotherhood themselves and exclusively with cultivated natural flowers. in the fields of Cieza, adjusting each year to a different design.

Holy Week in Ciez is devoid of all kinds of ideologies or political beliefs, which is the same as saying that people from each and every one of them participate in it; Due to its own trajectory and spirit, Holy Week and, as those most responsible for it, the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods, as well as the Brotherhoods that compose it, remain oblivious to any tendency of this type, preserving their autonomy and independence and prohibiting exhaustively any explicit relationship of this kind in its governing bodies.

By its very nature, during Holy Week the presence of social values that are so necessary and important, such as education for peace and coexistence, social integration, and respect for ethnic and cultural plurality, are exalted, cultivated, and fostered.

Likewise, and to the extent of its possibilities, Holy Week is also a benchmark for health habits, with special attention to the youth population, since in Ciezano Processional Parades the consumption of any type of drug is strictly prohibited, including tobacco and the alcohol.

Regarding equality of the sexes, men and women have the same rights and duties in the framework of Holy Week. In this sense, the Festival and its legislation have advanced notably in the last century and especially in the last decades against certain prejudices that have become uses and customs: thus, although from the origins of Holy Week in Ciez, women were admitted to the Brotherhoods, it will not be until the past 1930s and 1940s when their right to participate in the Processions is recognized as part of the Thirds of Nazarenes; Similarly, in the 1990s, their presence began to be allowed in the Tercio de Anderos, which is now a common occurrence. In a similar sense and with the passage of time, women, whose status within the Brotherhoods made them responsible only for the tasks that were considered proper to their condition (caring for clothing, cleaning belongings, etc.), have equated to that of men, their work in the life of the Brotherhoods, so that with greater frequency it is added to the tasks of organization and the governing bodies of the same, performances until not many decades ago reserved almost exclusively for men; a process that culminates in the fact that there are currently no normative references specific to Holy Week in Cieza or ways of doing it that constitute a prerogative in favor of gender, or any obstacle that prevents the full exercise of rights as brother.

Finally, we must refer to another of the most important values that Holy Week treasures and promotes: that of culture. Holy Week is also a cultural phenomenon that is part of the history of the city and, as such, traditional, traditional, artistic and patrimonial aspects are intermingled. For centuries the Brotherhoods have been transmitters of the rites and customs that have shaped Holy Week in Cieza as we know it today, with its characteristic features and peculiarities. But at the same time they have been depositaries of another heritage, the artistic one, which has contributed to making Cieza and its Holy Week an emporium of art through its sculptures, the carvings of its thrones, its goldsmithing, its embroideries. .. That is why the Brotherhoods have imposed as an obligation the task, not only to preserve it, but also to magnify it. In this regard, for more than two decades Holy Week in Cieza has had a guiding body dependent on the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods, the Art Commission, whose mission is focused on advising and supervising any innovations, restorations or modifications that affect to all types of works with a presence in the Processional Parades, for which two mechanisms have been established: On the one hand, all the Brotherhoods have agreed on the use, for the realization of any project, of consistent materials and of the highest quality. category, and the requirement that their execution and finishes are of the highest quality. Secondly, the operation of the Commission and the Brotherhoods with respect to it has been regulated and regulated, so that, before undertaking a work, the interested Brotherhood is obliged to present a project that must be favorably informed by the former, and that later it will be verified if it has complied scrupulously in the finished work for its final approval. The presence and importance of this advisory body in the Ciezano Brotherhood sphere have been such that in the purely artistic-patrimonial aspect, Ciezano Holy Week has experienced growth, in quality and quantity, in the last decade, unknown at any other time in its history. .

On the other hand, around Holy Week, the ciezano has developed a surprising gastronomic culture based, above all, on the exceptional products that its privileged garden provides and that the visitor can taste in each and every one of the hotel establishments of the city; Thus, a few humble dishes but of great culinary category stand out at this time: Lenten salad, broad bean soup, broad bean tortilla, rice with snails, onion, ciezano stew, empanadillas, and a rich assortment of desserts and sweets, in which Our fruit par excellence prevails, the peach, and the traditional pan dormido cakes. Thus, with products from our garden, the Brothers of the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de Gracia y Esperanza arrange every year the table of Paso La Santa Cena.

The Junta de Hermandades Pasionarias of Cieza, the oldest chapter of Brotherhoods in the Region and one of the first in Spain, was founded in 1914 with the purpose of turning Holy Week in Cieza into a common project that was something more than mere sum of the purposes of each of the Brotherhoods. This approach, which makes solidarity and fraternity the true way to travel the Nazarene path in Cieza, is what has undoubtedly allowed Ciezana Holy Week to reach a dimension that far exceeds what the founders of the Board could have dreamed of. of Brotherhoods, awarded in 2014, the year in which it celebrated its I Centenary, with the Gold Medal of the Region of Murcia.

The protocol that regulates Holy Week in Cieza is determined by the Statutes and Internal Regulations of the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods, whose contents are the result of the Agreements of its General Assembly, made up of the President or Representative of each of the Brotherhoods, and by a Board of Directors made up of the President, two Vice Presidents, six Members, a Secretary, a Treasurer and the Counselor.

In this sense, we must specify that the Department of Tourism of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia has annually had the Announcement Poster for Holy Week in Cieza since 1993, the year in which it was declared of Regional Tourist Interest and later in 2011. with the Declaration of National Tourist Interest, and has also paid on specific occasions, together with other Ministries, certain publications such as videos, postcards, and even some services.

SPECIAL, PECULIAR AND IDENTIFYING TRAITS

In a celebration as widespread throughout the national geography as Holy Week, it is not always easy to talk about features authentically typical of a locality, since the Passion-themed Processions have very marked profiles by themselves and are common, by nature , throughout the territory. However, and taking this circumstance into account, it is possible to speak of a series of aspects that single out Holy Week in Ciez in a very striking way among the -literally- thousands of passion celebrations that take place on those same days in all corners of Spain. .

Although there is more about each one of these own profiles in other points of this document, it is appropriate now to enumerate very briefly what are those intrinsically ciezanos aspects that give a very distinguished personality to your Holy Week:

- Organization of the Brotherhoods in the Processions: in the vast majority of towns that celebrate Holy Week, each Brotherhood organizes a parade in which they process alone, and only very exceptionally do they parade together. In Cieza, however, and as will be verified later, the vast majority of Brotherhoods do not parade once but more than once, even up to six times in some cases (such as the Brotherhood of La Oración del Huerto and El Santo Sepulcro ), in different Processions –with different Steps– in which, moreover, along the same itinerary they concur in order with other Brotherhoods to episodically narrate the Passion of Christ. There are very few towns that organize their Holy Week in this way, few and also almost all in a relatively small area of the Spanish Levant.

- The “ciezano step”: without a doubt, in the very essence of Ciezano Holy Week is the unmistakable way in which the anderos carry the Steps to the sound of the processional marches. Whether they are funeral marches or compositions for festive parades, the ciezano andero has elevated both the slow walk and the ordinary walk to the category of art, giving the throne and the images or sculptural groups an elegance and solemnity in the parade full of beauty and harmony, a true delight for the senses; and if there is a moment, so sublime that it seems made on purpose for it, that is none other than the "dance of the Saints" typical of La Cortesía in the Procession of the Risen Christ on the morning of Easter Sunday. Also related to the passage, it is curious that Cieza also preserves another tradition, at least surprising, because it is a practically unprecedented custom in the rest of the national geography, since it contrasts with the mournful events that are commemorated that day: the transfer on the afternoon of Good Friday at El Paso El Santo Sepulcro at an ordinary pace to the sound of the pasodobles of the Brotherhood.

- The music: because the procession goes hand in hand with music, because music not only dignifies the Processions but also makes them possible, because Holy Week in Cieza cannot be understood without the sounds of its 98 original compositions (some of highly recognized national prestige), and because these works, written by composers (39 in the last decade), both by composers from Cieza and foreigners delighted with the Holy Week processions in Cieza, themselves constitute a first-rate intangible cultural heritage.

- The sculptural heritage, an anthology of the best contemporary imagery: as can be seen, in Cieza the annihilation of the heritage during the Civil War was finally an opportunity to make a virtue of necessity, achieving in the following decades, up to the present day, a wide series of works of extraordinary sculptural quality, which imposes itself not only because of the list of responsible artists, coming from very different artistic schools, but also because of the height they reached precisely in their works for Cieza. Any visitor versed in artistic knowledge will be surprised to see, in this small corner of the Huerta del Segura, an incomparable sample of the best sculptural artists of the last hundred years80. This effort has also found its echo in the thrones, where together with the magnificent "living room" specimens, which have been preserved since the s. XIX, true filigrees appear that come from the best Spanish craftsmen of the moment.

- Autochthonous heritage elements: together with this impressive contribution of first-rate foreign artists, a good part of the artistic component of Ciezana Holy Week is the direct work of the ciezanos themselves. The music of the Festival is, to a large extent, the work of local composers who have dedicated, since the mid-s. XIX, the best of his music to integrate that great soundtrack of the Ciezan Processions. In addition, it is necessary to highlight the importance of the work of Manuel Juan Carrillo Marco (son and father of artists), composer, designer, carver, sculptor and image maker, a creator in the authentic sense who achieved very important successes in the field of imagery, and who worked for towns throughout the Region and neighboring provinces. For Holy Week in Cieza, he made up to five Pasos, in addition to the superb, magnificent throne of Paso Santa María Salomé, perhaps the most peculiar and outstanding of all those paraded in Cieza. Nowadays, the work of the sculptor and image maker from Cieza Antonio Jesús Yuste Navarro is widely known far from our borders, having been recognized with the prestigious First Prize organized by La Hornacina in Seville for his passage “Stmo. Christ of the Expiration”, carried out in 2013 for the ciezana brotherhood of San Pedro; This author is also the architect of most of the children's steps of the Ciezanas brotherhoods, as well as the colossal sculptural group of the "Holy Burial" of the Brotherhood of the Samaritan, which sees the light in Holy Week 2023. In terms of costumes It is also remarkable not only the contribution of the local embroidery workshops, but also the traditional Confrade attire itself, finished off by the unique mucus cap, probably the most peculiar and ancient costume element of the Ciezan Processions. On the other hand, the ornamental goldsmith work has in the Cieza workshops of the Penalva family, first order references throughout the Spanish Levant, an exponent of singular importance as architects of the vast majority of patrimonial elements of the Holy Week of Cieza linked to this genre of sumptuary art.

- The absolute singularity of the crucial acts of the Fiesta: amidst the breadth and diversity of the proposals of the Program of Acts and Processions, there are undoubtedly four absolutely unique moments, which radically distinguish Holy Week in Cieza in the national context. These peculiar and unforgettable moments are the Arrest (Holy Tuesday night), the Procession of the Descent of Christ into Hell (early morning from Friday to Holy Saturday), the Procession of the Children's Tercios (Holy Saturday afternoon) and the Courtesy (Sunday of Resurrection), all of them irreplaceable events that appear at any time when Holy Week in Cieza is mentioned. About them will be discussed in more detail when ciezanos processional parades are described.

THE BROTHERHOODS: STRUCTURE ON THE STREET

It must be pointed out again that it is the Brotherhoods, grouped in the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods, which organize and integrate the main acts of the Festival, which are the Processions. For this reason, it seems opportune to begin by referring to the way that they organize themselves in the street, which is as much as explaining the structure that the Processions have in the segments that correspond to each Brotherhood; Secondarily, the most notable points of the Heritage with which they parade will be specified. As an essential part of this chapter, naturally, the details of each parade will be given, to, lastly, make a brief reference to the growth of Holy Week in the last decade.

Although there are various Processions in which a single image parades, which give variety and depth to the Festival, the essence of Holy Week in Cieza is, perhaps, in the great Processions in which various Brotherhoods attend a single parade in the that the Passion of Christ is recounted, each of them occupying their place according to the chronological order of the different evangelical passages.

Regardless of whether they parade alone or as part of a longer procession, from the point of view of the Procession, each Brotherhood is organized in the street as follows:

- Guion or Cruz de Guía: leads the parade of the Brotherhood, in the place that corresponds to the evangelical passage narrated by the Paso that it processions.

- Children's Tercio: parades after the script of the Brotherhood, wearing its tunic; They are popularly known as "the beet". They participate in almost all the Brotherhoods, but not in all the Processions.

- Banner of the Brotherhood: they show the emblem or shield of the Brotherhood richly decorated with silks, embroidery or brocade

- Tercio Lanterns: they parade on both sides of the banner, and are made of noble materials finished in authentic goldsmith filigree.

- Third of Nazarenes: they parade in two lighting lines (with staff or wax) perfectly ordered, with their statutory separation established, wearing the tunic of the Brotherhood and with their faces covered by a hood or verduguillo. In the Procession of the Penitents (Good Friday morning), some Brotherhoods replace the staff with a wooden cross.

- Special mention should be made of the Tercios de Lloronas/es and Manolas/os, who substitute the Cofrade tunic for the attire typical of Spanish mourning. The first belongs to the Brotherhood of María Santísima de la Soledad, while the second parades both within the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de Gracia y Esperanza, and the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Reclining Christ and Most Holy Virgin of Sorrow.

- Tercio de Anderos/as: they are in charge of carrying on their shoulders the throne with the Image or the sculptural group that makes up the Step. Under the direction of the Cabos de andas, they parade dressed in the tunic of the Brotherhood, with their faces covered or uncovered, distributed in the eight poles –four front and four rear– of the throne with a number of components per pole that varies, between four and nine, depending on the dimensions of the Pass. The anderos and the anderas are part of the very essence of Holy Week, since their way of marking the step, harmonically submitted to the rhythm of the music or the drum, is a fundamental part of the staging of the Processions of Ciez.

- The Paso, carried on a litter as has been said, is made up of two structural elements: the throne and the Image or sculptural group. The first, with very few exceptions, is made of wood carved in different filigrees and with noble finishes, generally silver or another. They admit diverse structures and designs, all of them oriented to show off and ornament the Image or group. As for these, they are the essential patrimonial element of the Procession, and fulfill the leading role of the evangelical story, in addition to being recipients of the devotion of the faithful. They are made of polychrome wood, entirely or with the addition of royal clothing. The arrangement of the Paso is essentially made up of the flower, one of the elements most cared for by the Ciezan Brotherhoods through a constant reinvention of designs and plant resources, and lighting, natural (wax), artificial or a mixture of both.

- The presence of the Brotherhood in the street concludes with the presence behind the Throne (perhaps separated from it by the Presidency) of the Music Band, Group or Band of bugles and drums that are hired to accompany their parade with the appropriate pieces to the Paso and the Procession in question. The only exception is the Cofradía de Ánimas, whose Paso parades without a Music Band (as will be seen later, the only musical contributions to its Procession are a choir that plays sacred music and a small string group that alternate waiting for the procession). at certain points along the way)

- This structure does not apply to the Roman Tercio of the Holy Sepulchre, which presents its own: script, cohort of insignia, Band of music and the different cohorts, since it always follows the Step of another Brotherhood (Our Father Jesus, the Arrest, or the Holy Sepulchre).

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