Palm Sunday Afternoon
DESCRIPTION
The great festive day of Palm Sunday in Cieza continues in the afternoon, when the massive Transfer-Procession of the Santísimo Cristo del Consuelo takes place from its hermitage outside the walls to the Basilica of the Assumption among the fervor and devotion of all the ciezanos. It can be said that it is inherent to the popular religiosity of the ciezanos to go to the Cabezo de la Ermita to go down to the Co-Patron of the Villa to the Basilica, in order to be able to participate in the Holy Week Processions and in their annual cults on the occasion of the Festival of the Cross in the month of May.
The sense of the popular, in its broadest meaning, presides over this massive Processional Transfer in which, more than its Brotherhood, it seems that it is the whole town that goes down to the Stmo. Cristo del Consuelo from his Hermitage. The image, the oldest of those that participate in Holy Week in Cieza (beginning of the 17th century) is initially carried on its throne at an ordinary pace accompanied by pasodobles, but then, once entered the town center, with the incorporation of the Presidency of the Procession (with all its civil, ecclesiastical and military authorities) it begins to parade at a slow pace, accompanied by processional funeral marches. Although it is beautiful to see the revered Image come out from its Hermitage, bathed in the afternoon light, it is more striking to contemplate the flood of spectators that precede and follow the Paso del Cristo along the wide avenue of the Camino de Madrid, towards the Barrio de the assumption. As soon as it reaches the so-called Puerta de la Villa, at the beginning of Calle Cadenas, the bell tower begins to ring incessantly, celebrating the arrival in town of the Lord of the Ciezanos. When the "Santo Cristo" enters the crowded Plaza del Ayuntamiento, the hubbub between the bells and the applause is such that the music of the Band is no longer distinguishable, putting an exciting end to the great party that it is, for the ciezanos , Palm Sunday.
