Festivities
Jumilla
We use the terms"distinctive", "different" and even "exceptional" when referring to Lorca's, Cartagena's or Murcia's Holy Week. Regarding Jumilla, the concept of Passion over there has little to do with that concept in those other places, and this represents an invitation for the visitor to experience the wide range of possibilities offered by Región de Murcia when it comes to celebrations and traditions. Jumilla, not forgetting its roots from Levante -southeastern Spain-, seems to look towards the plateau of Castilla, where a great sobriety prevails. Still, its sobriety, austerity and strictness do not mean a lack of show. Jumilla is full of moderate, concentrated show, intensity and total devotion. Its processions and its people conserve the spirit of the Middle Ages with which they were born: the didactic work implied by this martyr exhibition. It was necessary to explain what the death of Christ was and how and why it took place, together with the biblical verses. There was nobody better than the Franciscan order -that settled in Jumilla with a missionary vocation- to make it possible that, even before the 15th Century, the celebration of processions were much more than the images' leaving of the temples. Almost each day of the Holy Week, apart from the processions, something significant takes place: public representations of Christ's capture, thrones and images being moved from their Churches of origin to the processions' starting points, traditional opening speeches, or the romería -pilgrimage-, either from San Agustín Hermitage or from Santa Ana Monastery (a place worth a visit, counting on craggy approaches and with a view to a privileged spot). During the day or night Brotherhoods' routes, those visiting Jumilla will have the impression that they are surrounded by a new and amazing atmosphere. During the day, due to the sky's intensity, which multiplies the singularity of anything that may happen. At night, since the smell of flowers and burnt wax, together with the hurt and rhythmic music in some narrow streets, are responsible for pictures that are as powerful as time travel.
Festivities
Cieza
An eminently passionate and processions-lover village, whose first Nazarene demonstration date from the end of the 15th century. Since its dawn, the Holy Week of Cieza has evolved to offer the current visitor lots of values and hints which make it unique in comparison with the rest of the southeast of Spain. Cieza knows how to show in its Holy Week that there can be a contemporary and traditional mix, and that fidelity to religious rites and celebrations can also take part in the festive part. Cieza also knows how to mix the aspects of sacred and profane worlds, which may yearn for the same. In these dates, in a square, in a street, we can attend an Auto Sacramental, but also an intense sweets rain, the roar of jubilation of drums and the reflexive concentration of the nights in which it is admired the pain of a dying Christ transfixed by a lance, almost gravitating over a city in the dark. Attending so many withdrawals is impressive. But at the same time concerts are held other days, moves of statues, children processions with the tots of the different brotherhoods, fireworks, or Palm leaves are blessed or proclamations about the Nazarene.
Festivities
Calasparra
In Calasparra it is possible to attend to a celebration that the city lives with special enthusiasm and participation. This celebration commemorates the moment when Jesus was captured in the Garden of Olives. The representation is held in the street, in the Park of el Prendimiento, its main characters are the "Picas", a group of Romans in charge of carrying out the arrest. They also have the leading role in the Resurrection Sunday, this time leaving terrified the custody of the body of Jesus that they were supposed to be doing. They leave when they see the image of Jesus resurrected, but it is of no use, because La Dolorosa discovered them when leaving and they are captivated. As it happens in several towns and cities of the Region of Murcia, the Holy Week in Calasparra is really teaching and explanatory regarding to the most renowned scenes of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.
Festivities
Archena
In the morning of Good Friday, Archena celebrates the "Procession of the Encuentro Doloroso". The "Encuentro Doloroso" is held after thrones and nazarenes formed in long queues and go out of the Church of Saint Juan Bautista. Then, during its way to the Plaza de España the "Encuentro Doloroso" takes place between the images of Saint Juan, the Virgin of los Dolores and Our Father Jesús Nazareno. Thousands of people observe this representation, with background music played by the Centuria Romana, which always accompanies the "Nazareno". Later, in the stillness and silence of this day the sermon, which is given in the balcony of the town council, can be heard. The procession continues in the oldest part of the town, to celebrate the "Encuentro of the Nazareno" a second time, but this time with La Verónica, in whose cloth the face of Jesus Christ still remains. This morning, the "marchas" (musical march) of the Centuria Romana of Archena are very characteristic, these pieces of music accompany the well-known "puntos", also played along the walk. The Centuria Romana want to represent with the aggressiveness of their lances the moment when the centurion Longino stuck his in the side of Christ.
Festivities
Alhama de Murcia
The Holy Week of Alhama de Murcia is awarded regional tourist interest status. It has preserved for centuries a legacy with an important cultural and artistic heritage which allows, every year, that this celebration becomes a religious manifestation of great tourist and cultural interest, reflection of history and tradition. The processional parade of the five brotherhoods and fraternities shows more han sixty "pasos" (representations of the scenes of Christ's Passion), which come onto the streets on the shoulders of the "portatronos", remembering the scenes of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. The colouring of the the tunics of "moraos" (dressed in purple), "coloraos" (dressed in red), blues, whites and blacks; the sound of bugles and drums; the candies; the thrones decorated with colourful flowers, and the solemnity of thrones make Alhama the perfect destination to come during the Holy Week. In this way, you will be able to enjoy the processions typical of the Region of Murcia which have their own identity and are unique.
Festivities
Alcantarilla
In 1590 the Church of Saint Pedro Apóstol was inaugurated. Then, at the end of the 16th century, the first brotherhoods emerge and create their own hallmarks. In the 1950s the first brotherhoods were reestablished and new ones were created. The Holy Week in Alcantarilla is not just another festivity. The city has it registered in its memory, and that is why every year the willingness to self-improvement is bigger. In November, the Mass celebrated for the dead members of the brotherhood is held. This mass is chaired by the head of each brotherhood and fraternity. The first weekend of Lent the Day of the Nazarene takes place. It starts on Friday with a Via Crucis; then, on Sunday the Tribute to the Nazarene and the Presentation of the Holy Week magazine is celebrated.
Festivities
Abarán
The Holy Week processions in Abarán are some of the most colourful and beautiful ones in the Region of Murcia. Not surprisingly, it is declared as event of Regional Tourist Interest since 1985. The religious and the civil shake hands, being precisely the Plaza del Ayuntamiento the place where one of the most popular moments of the Holy Week of Abarán takes place: the procession of the Encuentro or de las Reverencias (Encounter of Bows), on Easter Sunday. Bands of cornets and drums, and different thrones meet until they welcome the throne of the Virgin with two inclinations, which wait with excitement for the throne of the Resucitado (Resurrected). In that moment, music starts sounding and doves are released.
Festivities
Murcia
Anyone attending a procession in Murcia for the first time, specially one of the most popular processions, will witness a series of astounding images that have no equal in Spain. A celebration such as the Holy Week only gains personality and difference through the years, and Murcia counts on some Brotherhoods from the Middle Ages: the beginning of the 15th Century, when the plague and famine devastated a population left at random, that turned to faith in order to look for a remedy. In the year 1400, a river of blood started up. That blood dyed the dresses the same red that fiercely covered the body of Christ with pain. Time after that -centuries after that-, with the ups and downs of history, the Brotherhoods multiplied until they reached the splendour and vitality they are so proud of today. We are talking about 15 Brotherhoods: fifteen associations, each one with thousands of moved processionists that turn into estantes, penitents or musicians responsible for the sound that accompanies and characterises certain parts of the processions -the long sound of the tubas, instruments that are as huge as the groans they produce. Let's talk about some more figures. During the days of the processions, starting with the Viernes de Dolores -Dolores Friday-, more than 80 groups go through Murcian streets. It is a true open-air religious art exhibition that summarizes almost five centuries of the Murcian imagery's development. Important artist names are Francisco Salzillo, whose mention brings to mind the Baroque, skill, tact, depth and moving beauty, and also Roque López, Domingo Beltrán and Nicolás de Bussy, all of them great sculptors, honourably followed on the essentials by the artists of the present century. People coming to this city for the first time will be able to verify that Murcian generosity is not just literature but also a real thing, and that it is even present at its processions. The processions have turned something that used to be a necessity into a very peculiar characteristic: people brought some food from the huerta -irrigated areas used for cultivation-, where they lived, to the city, to be prepared for the procession's long route. That is why today, from the swollen bellies of the Nazarenos, all kinds of presents come out. These presents can be fresh broad beans or sweets, pastries or hard-boiled eggs; it is a celebration full of generosity, maybe difficult to understand at first. Despite this, that generosity has much to do with the spirit of these days, when the greatest generosity ever is commemorated: the generosity of offering the own life to the others.
Festivities
Totana
Holy Week in Totana is a mix of tradition and modernity and brings together a multitude of men and women on its days of celebrations. In fact, the most settled tradition in Totana is "dressing like a nazarene", a kind of magical call with which everybody agrees and feels ready to carry it out. All is related with black, a color in which everybody is dressed, a sign of identity which accompanies all inhabitants of Totana from the 17th century. This is the clothing of councilors used to participate in mourning acts. Ancient nazarenes resorted to their Brotherhood, covered their face, lighted the altar candle and untied the tail that hug waist and dragged it along the whole route. During the Holy Week, thousands of nazarenes go along the streets, taking part in processional acts and, step out of line so as to get some food and drinks in bars or in families "or friends" houses who prepare typical food of these dates such as "pipirrana" (salad with basic ingredients), "paparajotes" (fried lemon tree leaves covered with flour and eggs and powdered sugar and ground cinnamon), and "empanadillas" (small pasties filled with tomato, tuna and boiled eggs). This is a Holy Week which combines devotion and austerity with the burst of the nazarene vitality. More information at www.semanasantadetotana.com
Festivities
Yecla
Nineteen Fraternities and Brotherhoods, nine bands of cornets and drums and musical unions, and more than three thousand members of the brotherhood, march along the streets of the city, accompanying forty two statues in the eleven processions which are held. During Lent, preceding the Holy Week, the Masses of the Brotherhood of Los Besamanos, Via Crucis, Triduums and the rest of Tributes to the Statues which are celebrated by Fraternities and Brotherhood. There are other activities cultural activities which are celebrated before Holy Week, more than 30: Announcement of the Nazarene of the Year, Presentation of the announcer poster of Holy Week, Magazine-Programme of Holy Week, Photography exhibitions and concerts.... The Real Cabildo Superior de Cofradía Pasionarias (Real Chapter of Passionate Fraternities), together with all the fraternities and with the company of citizens, celebrates each year the Holy Week, characterised by its order and religiosity. It offers some unique processions which differentiate it, such as the processión of the "Farolicos" (Little Lampposts), the touching events of "La Cortesía" (The Courtesy) and ¿El Encuentro¿ (The Encounter), the "Enterramiento de Cristo" (Burial of Christ) and the unrivalled processión of "La Soledad" (Virgin of Loneliness). The traditional heritage of this processions, the effort of the Chapter and the Fraternities and Yecla citizens emotionally involved in these events, have make the Holy Week of Yecla to be declared as event of Tourist Interest. The first processions were made during the period of Felipe II. During the 17th century, the first penitents with cloaks appeared, as well as the Fraternities of the Virgin of Loneliness and the Brotherhood of the Cross. In the 18th century, before the processión of the Burial of Christ, two sermons were made: the one of the Descent and the Loneliness. This procession of the Burial was the origin of the processions as they are known nowadays and they take its final form during the second half of the 19th century. They have been evolving throughout the years. Holy Week in Yecla has a great artistic heritage consisting of embroideries, goldsmithing and woodcarving, among which 80 statues which participate in the 11 processions celebrated in Cieza stand out. The most ancient statue of our Holy Week is the Virgin of the Distress (Salzillo 1763) declared as good of cultural interest. Great part of this heritage can be observed during the year in the Museo de Semana Santa (Holy Week Museum) located in the Iglesia Vieja (Old Church) Religion, tradition and culture are bring together in the Holy Week in Yecla and make it unique. This uniqueness is shown in the streets for its colouring, seclusion and prayers, together with the devotion of all the citizens, who have being loyal to these customs and traditions for more than two centuries.
Festivities
Cartagena
The International Tourist Interest of Cartagena's Holy Week defines what is going to be experienced by the visitor these days. A quick look at the routes and timetables programs will give you a clue. The processions in Cartagena have an early morning attitude: this means a character of their own and a communion with the pain and woe that are so well represented here. A procession that goes through the streets in broad daylight can never be experienced in the same way as a procession meant to go out of the temple when the night is so deep as a wound. If we could be in several places at the same time, in order not to miss anything, one of the places to be would be the street: to witness everything that constantly happens, watch this millennial city's wonderful sense of the show, smell of burnt wax, notice the expressive music's bang in the stomach, and be dazzled by the perfect synchrony of entourages, the lit up thrones of which, over the crowd, exhibit smooth hills of flowers seeming to daintily hold the images that are swayed under the dark vault of heaven. Another place would be the firmament: somewhere high to realize the true magnitude of what happens down there, listen to the roar that is muffled by the distance, to sudden applauses, and check the images' winding route through the city. Cartagena lives these days with a great devotion, passed on to inhabitants and strangers, and is united in an only objective even if it is divided into two expressions of the same thing. The diatribes between marrajos and californios are due to a spirit that goes beyond the mere spirit of competition. Both Brotherhoods are proud of their age-old past; there is no contradiction in saying they unite the city by dividing it. And this is not all: in fact, here is where everything starts. Cartagena and its Holy Week have other reasons to be proud. This festivity is experienced with intensity, as we said before. And the visitor will be astonished sometimes, surprised some other times, and almost always excited. He or she will be able to verify that the images in the processions have the quality and signature of the best carving workshops, that have gained through the years a good reputation, confirmed by Art History. These are images rescued from wood by the expert hands of master sculptors such as Benlliure, Sánchez Lozano, Salzillo, González Moreno, Abascal, Ardil, García Mengual or Capuz. Everyone is in the street on the first big day, Viernes de Dolores -Dolores Friday-, dedicated to their Patron Virgin: an image of the Virgen de la Caridad -Caridad Virgin- at the base of the Cross, which is a prelude to the following ten days.
Festivities
Lorca
Up to this moment, for one reason or another, the peculiar way of celebrating the Holy Week in different towns of Región de Murcia has been pointed out. But when it comes to Lorca, we need to speak of uniqueness: something you never saw before. It is a world divided into two parts. Blancos -the "White" ones- or Azules -the "Blue" ones-. Zeal and passion which are sung, shouted, shown as distinctive features are usually shown; circles of people outside the Churches where the Azules' Dolorosa Virgin and the Blancos' Amargura Virgin are: circles of people where throats cheer each other, warming up by trying to pronounce the longest and strongest "¡viva!". There is no average term in Lorca. Furthermore, the entrenchment of Blancos and Azules goes beyond the belief at this time of the year. It has more to do with roots and custom, with things you have lived through. It is a town vibrating in two halves but in unison. Serenades, "salves" and marches in order to collect both groups' flags are reasons enough for the visitor to feel every second that he is part of a collective enthusiasm where nobody is a foreigner. Lorca's Holy Week is as intense as an energy pill. It has not just religious intention, but also secular expression, wisdom and the experience of having represented episodes from the Bible and the Passion for more than a century, by uniting different historical civilisations with recent and present ones. That is why Lorca's Viernes Santo -Holy Friday-, the greatest and most overwhelming one among those celebrated these days, leaves nobody indifferent. In Lorca's main road, by means of amazing parades, you will experience many episodes recalling Asiria, Babylon, Greece, Egypt and Israel, as well as prophets, emperors or kings, all of that in a baroque sense of aesthetics and with a great display of imagination that will fascinate you and will end up seducing you. It is important to attract the visitor's attention towards the magnificent embroideries which are shown during the parade: authentic popular jewels that have been woven with care, in silence, secretly, in the way big companies hush up their scientific progress. The hands of Lorca's embroiderers, together with their gold, silk and fine fabric work are sought-after goods, the results of which -shown on banners, capes and different ornaments- make the public spontaneously applaud from their stands, appreciating throughout the route their effort and beauty. And that's not all. After seeing the cavalry, the groups marching, the carriages and chariots, the pirouettes and pesades performed before thousands of spectators, the real collective ecstasy arrives: it is the moment of the stroll of Virgen de los Dolores and Virgen de la Amargura's thrones before Lorca's people. The excitement arises unexpectedly. Lorca is a clamour, Lorca glows. Everyone applauding his or her own venerated image, but showing a wonderful respect for the opposing side's image that demonstrates that here, every year and for a long time, one of the most sublime moments for everybody's senses takes place.
Monuments
Molina de Segura
La Chimenea de Hernández Gil perteneció a la antigua fábrica de conserva de El Pelícano. Al derribar la instalación en su solar se hizo un jardín, el Huerto Fayrén, donde permanece la chimenea. A su lado podemos admirar la escultura del artista Manuel Mateo Cuenca: El Consejo “Homenaje a la Mujer”. Está representada por dos figuras sentadas representando en actitud dialogante los consejos que una persona adulta le da a otra más joven. Está realizada en acero corten de 3 mm. de grosor. Esta técnica escultórica permite trabajar con grandes superficies planas cosidas con soldadura. La pretensión, al elegir ésta técnica, es conseguir que tanto las aristas como las líneas sean lo más puras posibles para que luz y sombra queden perfectamente definidas. Está montada sobre una peana, también de acero cortén, que descansa sobre un plinto de obra.
Holiday accommodation
Águilas
Este apartamento con aire acondicionado tiene acceso directo a un balcón con vistas al mar y cuenta con 2 dormitorios y cocina totalmente equipada. Se ofrece TV de pantalla plana. Características del apartamento: Dormitorio 1: Cama doble con vistas panorámicas al mar. Dormitorio 2: Litera (3 plazas). Cocina totalmente equipada (lavadora, lavavajillas, tostadora, cafetera). Armarios empotrados. Aire acondicionado. Garaje.
Museums
Águilas
Hornillo Pier and musealised tunnel. Open-air Museum, following the old railway tracks, up to one of the old unloading tunnels and viewpoints.
