Hundreds of people filled the streets of Verges, in Baix Empordà, this Holy Thursday, to follow the Processó de Verges and the Dansa de la Mort, in an edition marked by strong winds and several changes in the route and staging. The municipality, with around 1,000 inhabitants, once again dedicated itself to one of Catalonia's most unique and ancient celebrations, in which more than 600 residents participate.
The Plaza Major hosted at night the representation of the Misteri de la Passió, with hundreds of participants recreating the last days of Jesus Christ. The 1,467 tickets available for this performance had sold out weeks before, in one more sign of the pull that a tradition maintains that has only been interrupted during the Civil War and the pandemic.
Updates before the main event
One of this year's main additions has been the representation of the Ram scene in the Placeta, before the central act of the Plaza Major. The initiative has been introduced to liven up the wait of visitors who did not have access to the main enclosure.
"It's a nod to what was done in the past, when all the scenes were itinerant and were performed in different corners of the town, before there was a fixed stage with chairs and spectators" - Agustí Cancell, director of the Procession
The organization has also reorganized the itinerant procession to make it more agile and compact. This year, the vestments and the images have come out before the actors of the representation with the aim of reinforcing the visual impact of the route.
"The visitor takes away a more intense memory" - Agustí Cancell, director of the Procession
The new order left the tableau of the Dansa de la Mort as the last scene that the public contemplates, a decision thought to reinforce the emotional closing of the parade through the old town.
The Dance of Death, axis of the night
The Dance of Death paraded again through the streets of Verges with five skeletons to the rhythm of the drum. The lead dancer carried a scythe with the inscription Nemini parco, which means I spare no one. Another of the figures carried a black flag that represents the brevity of time. Two small figures held plates with ash as a reminder that dust we are and to dust we shall return. The fifth figure showed a clock without hands to indicate that death can arrive at any moment.
This year, additionally, five new torches have been incorporated into the tableau of Death, two in front and three behind, to give more presence to the scene without altering its traditional character.
"They bring more relevance and importance to the scene maintaining its traditional essence" - Agustí Cancell, director of the Procession
Towards midnight, the procession traveled the streets of the old town of Verges illuminated by torches and by snails with oil. The street of Orient once again became the street of the Snails, one of the points of greatest anticipation of the itinerary, before the representation culminated with the Crucifixion and the final reverence of the Dance of Death inside the church.
A tradition with centuries of history
In Verges, the only dance of this type that has endured is preserved, with documentary references in ecclesiastical texts. A document dated in 1666 already records that the celebration took place through the usual places of the town. The Generalitat recognized it in 1983 as a Traditional Festival d"National Interest.
The organization also continues the work to ensure that the celebration is recognized as intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. The process remains open and requires the collection of documentation, videos, and other materials.
"It is not an easy nor quick thing" - Agustí Cancell, director of the Processó
"We will never lose faith. If it's not next year, it will be in two, but we believe we are worthy" - Agustí Cancell, director of the Procession
The director of the Procession also highlighted the collective value of a celebration that every year mobilizes the entire municipality. "It is a source of pride that so many people can visit us and that the town is united by the same cause", he affirmed at the close of a night in which Verges once again transformed its old town into the center of one of the most recognizable traditions of Catalan Holy Week.