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Corpus Christi Festival - Sitges -2001 |
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June 17 2001
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Our first experience at a local festa (festival) on Sunday
night was great fun. We made it down to the Centre Vila (Town Center) for the
Processo de Setmana Santa (Holy Week Parade) around 10 p.m. As one would expect,
nothing was happening at the appointed time. We have accepted the fact that
habitual lateness is the rule here, but persist in being on time just in case
anyone else is. Folks were walking along, window shopping, dining and all the
usual stuff that goes on at that time of night, so we did some strolling as
well. A short distance from the Centre Vila is a fabulous Italian gelateria.
Across the street, we noticed some locals sitting on a step in front of one of
the buildings and said to ourselves “Aha, at least we’re in the right
place!” So we ambled around a little more and came back to the gelateria for a
double copa (cup) – every bit as delectable as in Italy – they sure know
their food here. By the time we had finished, the street was fairly well lined
with people and others continued to stroll down the middle. We found a cozy nook
and waited. Then, in the distance, we heard the steady pounding of a drum. I must tell you at this point that for the past couple of
weeks, around 10-12 at night, we have heard what we assumed to be fireworks
being set off but were unable to see any flares on the horizon. It was drum
practice! The guy who can best keep a tempo strikes the first blow, then (in
theory) all the other guys strike their drums. It works fairly well, but when
you make them walk too, it gets a little bit off the beat from time to time. A police tow truck preceded the parade. With their usual
attention to the rules, people waited until the truck passed and continued
crossing the street and milling around. Soon after though, the parade began.
First in line was a big round jolly looking bishop flanked by a couple of
priests carrying banners with the name of their church. The first of the LOUD
drummers followed – we assume these guys were there so that everyone behind
knew where to go and didn’t get lost along the route (which has probably been
the same for the past 50-100 years). This is a very catholic country and a lot
of their traditions are obscure to us, however, the theme of the parade was the
“Crucifixion”. The parade had seven floats (on carts pulled by priests) that
depicted each stage – from trial to internment. It appeared that each float
was created by an individual church group and between the floats were people
walking in two rows, single file and carrying long candles. Interspersed were a
couple of marching bands playing dirges and, of course, more drummers. The whole
thing took about an hour and wrapped up a little before midnight. Except for
some tourists or during an occasional delay in the parade, everyone was very
quiet and respectful. After they carried away the body of Christ, the final
group wore the sacred heart and brought a float with Mary on it that was very
elaborate. In general the floats were lavish with gold and luxurious fabrics,
and some rather grisly corpus Christi’s. Once the parade had passed, many of
the town folks continued to follow it down to the main square. |
