The Courtesy and Procession of the Risen Christ (17th century)

Easter Sunday morning

Undoubtedly one of the most joyful and eagerly awaited moments of each Holy Week, a ritual of exuberant fervor in which the procession bursts forth in an explosion of color, pasodoble music, and popular revelry. On Easter Sunday morning, the joy becomes explicit and widespread, and we witness the fastest, liveliest and most exuberant parade of all those organized in Cieza.

Year after year, no other event or spectacle generates such a massive popular response. Thousands upon thousands of Cieza residents literally carpet the urban space where this colossal epilogue to Holy Week unfolds.

The various floats participating in the Procession of the Risen Jesus arrive from different points to a common meeting place, the Corner of the Convent, and there they pay homage, three times, to the image of the Blessed Virgin of Beautiful Love, while thousands of candies fly through the air.

In the parade, everything is celebration and joy. To the rhythm of pasodobles, the bearers make their religious images dance until they seem to come to life and participate in the joy of the Resurrection, in a processional movement full of rhythm and flavor, unique in Spain.

The Courtesy is celebrated in the heart of the city, in the Corner of the Convent, an open and spacious area that separates the historic center of the city from the more modern neighborhoods.

The procession that follows is organized in the same square, heading towards the "Paseo" in the established order of steps; and it is very light, since the 'Saints' are led at an ordinary pace until the collection in the Holy Week House-Museum, when the curtain of Holy Week in Cieza finally falls.

Departure time: 11:00 am (Holy Week Museum).
Departure time of The Courtesy: 11:30 am at the Convent Corner.
Arrival time: approximately 1:30 pm (Holy Week Museum, Dormis Museum, Saint Mary Magdalene Brotherhood Museum and Saint Bartholomew Hermitage).
Route and order of procession to The Courtesy: the brotherhoods are divided into three groups:
⌘ "Cánovas del Castillo", "Santo Cristo", "Tercia", "Angostos", "Buen Suceso", "General Ruiz", "Paseo" (left side) and Corner of the Convent.
⌘ "Cánovas del Castillo", "Santo Cristo", "Tercia", "Angostos", "Buen Suceso", "Mesones" and Corner of the Convent.
⌘ "Cánovas del Castillo", "Buitragos", "San Sebastián" and Corner of the Convent.
Route after The Courtesy: Corner of the Convent, "Paseo" (left side), "Santa Ana", "Buen Suceso", "Angostos", "Tercia", "Santo Cristo" and/or "Cánovas del Castillo", "San Pedro" and/or "Plaza Mayor", "Cid" and "Plaza del Santo".
Order Procession: banner of the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods and the following floats: Triumphant Angel (Brotherhood of The Prayer in the Garden and The Holy Sepulchre), Risen Jesus (Brotherhood of Risen Jesus), The Apparition of Jesus to Mary Magdalene (Brotherhood of the Descent from Christ and Kiss of Judas), Saint Mary Magdalene (Brotherhood of Saint Mary Magdalene), Saint Mary Salome (Royal Brotherhood of Jesus -Nazarene-), Saint Mary of Cleophas (Brotherhood of Saint Peter the Apostle), The Disciples of Emmaus (Brotherhood of The Samaritan Woman), The Ascension (Brotherhood of Saint Veronica), Saint John (Brotherhood of Saint John the Evangelist) and Most Holy Virgin of Beautiful Love (Brotherhood of the Most Holy Christ of Forgiveness and Most Holy Virgin of Beautiful Love), all accompanied by their respective brotherhoods (without a third of Nazarenes) and marching bands.

Unique features and suggestions: Easter Sunday morning begins with the parade of the bands that accompany the floats that will later participate in the procession, previously gathered at the Corner of the Convent, accompanied by members of the brotherhood and the banner and/or standard of their corresponding brotherhood, thus beginning the jubilation that will guide the entire day, a morning of true celebration where the most central streets of the town (Corner of the Convent, "Paseo" and "Plaza de España") become a hive of people who come to enjoy that true popular event that is The Courtesy

Among the floats involved, in addition to those already mentioned, the following stand out: the float of the Risen Jesus, a magnificent creation by Carrillo Marco, the float of The Apparition of Jesus to Saint Mary Magdalene, an extraordinary work by González Moreno, and the float of the Triumphant Angel, a beautiful and personal creation by Sánchez Lozano. However, it cannot be overlooked that one of the main attractions of the Resurrected Procession is the unsurpassed beauty of seeing the splendid thrones of Saint John, Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Mary Salome parading at a regular pace.

They will all appear at the Corner of the Convent, making their way through the crowd following the instructions of the commissioners of the Board of Passionate Brotherhoods. Once there, and after the arrival of the Blessed Virgin of Beautiful Love, the Courtesy begins: to the rhythm set by the banners and standards of the different brotherhoods, the float of the Risen Jesus, accompanied by the other floats, performs three genuflections, as a sign of greeting from the Risen Christ to his Mother. This moment, perhaps the emotional climax of Holy Week, provokes a spontaneous display of joy among the participants, manifested by the shower of sweets that floods the Cieza sky, the beautiful and moving 'dance of the Saints', the measured and rhythmic movements of the floats, to the sound of the numerous pasodobles written for our floats (The Courtesy, The Dormition, Saint John, Saint Mary Salome, The Triumphant Angel…, all of them compositions by Cieza composers). A truly choral event, since the whole thing would be a soulless spectacle without the massive participation of the thousands of people who witness it, amid cheers, applause and the throwing of sweets.

The procession then begins, its vibrant energy spilling into the surrounding streets, packed with locals and visitors who are swept up in the overflowing joy of the parade. But, as is well known, this joy of the Resurrection overshadows a small wound that grows, in those very hours, in the hearts of the Cieza procession participants. The most enthusiastic, who are surely also the most nostalgic, will undoubtedly want to go to the 'House of the Saints' to see the return of the floats, the final image of Holy Week, at whose end, after the entrance of the Blessed Virgin of Beautiful Love, a pang of quiet bitterness is almost unavoidable. But the day is still long, and the afternoon of the traditional Easter cake, that same Sunday, brings the first conversations to reflect on the recently concluded Holy Week and begin making plans for the coming months… from April to March… it's time to set off once again, walking with a single destination: "To Cieza, for its Holy Week".

Photographs by Manuel Carpio.
© Board of Passionate Brotherhoods of Cieza

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