Easter Week

By tradition and by entitlement, Cabra is an Easter town all year long. Its Easter celebrations date all the way back to the late 15th century. One particularly noticeable aspect is the large number of pasos that are carried through its streets each and every day. The town is the home to twenty eight Easter brotherhoods, with an infinitely rich variety of details and anecdotes.  All the symbolism of the past is conserved: the Jews and Christians, the drumming, the long trumpets known as añafiles or abejorros, the sound of the rompevelos in the early hours of Good Friday. Furthermore, Cabra’s remarkable ethnological legacy in no way overshadows its purely artistic heritage, which represents some of the finest creators of religious images from the 17th and 18th centuries.  All in all, any day is a good day to visit Cabra and enjoy Easter there.

The celebrations begin on the morning of Palm Sunday This is a day specially dedicated to the children, who accompany “La Pollinita” dressed up as Jews. In the afternoon it is the turn of the adults, with the processions of El Huerto (Gethsemane), El Lavatorio (The Washing of Feet) and La Misericordia (Compassion). The next day there are the processions of El Calvario (Calvary) and La Sangre (The Blood), also known as Los Tambores Enlutados (the Mourning Drums). On Tuesday come La Sentencia (The Sentence) and La Paz (Peace), the latter being the longest procession of the whole week. Wednesday is the day of the brotherhoods of Necesidades (Necessities) and El Buen Fin (The Good Death), or Los Estudiantes (The Students). And in the early hours of the morning there is La Expiración (The Death of Christ).

Thursday sees the appearance of La Piedad (Pietà) and, in the evening, Jesús Preso (Jesus the Captive) a paso carried by bearers dressed as Jews and also known as El Señor de las Multitudes (The Lord of the Crowds). Other processions on this day are those of La Columna y Caridad (the Column and Charity), La Esperanza (Hope) and Los Remedios (Good Remedy), the town’s oldest brotherhood.  And when the processions of El Silencio (The Silence) and La Humildad y Paciencia (Humility and Patience) pass by, the streets are filled with an atmosphere of deepest respect. But Good Friday is the day of most interest for visitors, with the processions of Jesús Nazareno (Jesus Nazarene), Rocío de Pasión (the Dew and Tears) and El Mayor Dolor (The Greatest Sorrow), in the morning, and El Descendimiento (The Deposition), Las Angustias (Distress), Dolores (Sorrow) and El Sepulcro (The Sepulchre), with its Centuria Romana, in the afternoon/evening. In the early morning there is the procession of El Perdón (Forgiveness), and, at daybreak on Saturday, that of La Soledad (Solitude), followed in the afternoon by El Socorro (Succour). Easter Week ends with the procession of Jesús Resucitado (Christ Resurrected), organized jointly by all the different brotherhoods.

Embroidery

The gold thread used to decorate different fabrics symbolizes the divine nature of the scene being portrayed. Cabra has a fine collection of clothwork dating from the Baroque period up to the present day. Two notable examples are the “cicada-tailed” robe worn by the image of Jesus Nazarene, richly decorated with plant and leaf motifs executed in fine gold and silver thread, and the mantle of La Virgen de los Remedios (Our Lady of Good Remedy). Both garments date from the 18th century. Equally impressive are the mantles of La Soledad (Our Lady of Solitude) and Las Angustias (Our Lady of Distress), from the 19th century. During the course of the 20th century this tradition of decorative embroidery was also adopted for the trappings and canopies of the pasos.

Music

Añafiles and abejorros: In some processions the arrival of sacred images is heralded by the harsh notes of ceremonial trumpets called añafiles or abejorros. The doleful, monotonous sound creates an atmosphere of great solemnity.

The rompevelos: The drum tattoo known as the rompevelos is beaten out in the early hours of Good Friday. The name, which literally translated means “the curtain breaker”, refers to Gospel accounts of how the sky darkened and the curtain in the Temple of Solomon was rent in two at the moment of Christ’s death: a symbolic representation of the birth of the new Church and a break with the past.

Cabra-style saeta: Thanks to its unique pitch and the heartfelt devotion of its words, this is considered one of Andalusia’s oldest and most venerable forms of saeta.

Religious Images

Easter in Cabra is marked not only by its religious significance but also by the extremely high quality of the artistic heritage conserved by its different brotherhoods. The creators of the town’s devotional images include some of the leading craftsmen from both the Eastern and Western Andalusian schools of sculpture.  There are full volume statues, head-and-hands-only sculptures, single figures and sculptural groups by José de Mora, Pedro de Mena, Francisco Salzillo, Pablo de Rojas and even by the circle of Juan Martínez Montañés.

The Jews

Anthropologically, Easter Week in Cabra still retains some elements which characterized the celebrations as held during the Baroque period. The Archicofradía de Jesús Preso (Archbrotherhood of Christ the Captive), for example, carries its pasos in the traditional style, on the bearers’ shoulders rather than using the crossbeams beneath the platform, and the bearers themselves are called “Jews”, in reference to Christ’s status as “King of the Jews”.

Lenten Sweet-Pastries

Throughout Lent and during Easter Week the people of Cabra make traditional desserts for this period of fasting. Apart from the standard seasonal pestiños and magdalenas, there are also the delicious local delicacies called gajorros, made with flour, eggs, olive oil and sugar.