Sunday, April 12, 2009

A rude awakening

Many of you who live here in Bigastro will have suffered a rude awakening this morning. Only the best of sleepers will have managed to keep their eyes shut through the noise coming from the town. If you dragged yourself out of bed to see what the commotion was about, you'd have seen the town light up by brilliant white fireworks.

Why this morning and why so early?

Today is the day of resurrection when Jesus rose from the grave. In Bigastro there is a unique ceremony to celebrate this event called "El Encuentro".

Two pasos are brought from the church at about 7:15am. One has the figure of Jesus and the other Mary, his mother. Both process down different streets until they reach the calle where the bank is situated. At that point they meet - the encounter. The black mourning cape is removed from Mary and white doves are released. This is the part where it gets noisy because the act is then celebrated by the a firework display.

Once the fireworks are over, the two statues retire back to the church along the same calle and mass is held in the church.

El Encuento a very moving ceremony, well worth going to see. Last year, I went with my daughter Jemma to take photographs. I'm afraid, after a late night last night watching a DVD of the Stones in concert, I wasn't awake early enough to go down to the town this morning so I missed it. Now I need a cup of tea.

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