Verges celebrates this Thursday at dawn one of the most singular representations of Holy Week in the regions of Girona. The Holy Thursday procession starts at midnight in the church of the municipality of Baix Empordà and culminates with the Dansa de la Mort, a dance of medieval origin that has been maintained in the town since 1666.
The route takes the streets of the town in a nocturnal Way of the Cross marked by darkness, lit torches and specific lighting on Cargols street. At this point, the light comes from small oil flames built with snail shells, one of the most recognizable elements of the staging.
A unique tradition in Girona's Holy Week
The Dance of Death is considered a unique celebration within Holy Week in the regions of Girona. The performance could not be held in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic, but it keeps intact a tradition with roots in Western Europe of the Middle Ages, linked to the Black Death epidemics that devastated the continent.
The Generalitat declared it Heritage Festival of National Interest in 2010, in recognition of its historical and cultural value. In Verges, this dance is part of the final stretch of the procession and is integrated into a broader representation of the Passion of Christ.
Ten participants and five skeletons to the sound of the drum
The representation is performed by 10 people. Five of them are characterized as skeletons and perform the dance to the sound of a drum. The other five wear black tunics and advance following the rhythm, although without doing the dance steps.
Among the skeleton-dressed dancers there are two adults and three children. Each figure assumes a specific role within the staging. The capdanser opens the dance with a scythe. The standard-bearer carries a black flag. Two other skeletons carry plates of ash. The last one holds a clock, a symbol of the arrival of death.
A Via Crucis through the streets of the town
The procession goes through the urban center of Verges with different scenes of the Passion. Along the route are represented the healing of the blind man, the three falls, the three Marys, the women of Jerusalem and the crucifixion, before closing with the Dansa de la Mort.
The image of the skeletons advancing among torches and to the rhythm of the drum thus once again places Verges at the center of one of the most ancient and recognizable traditions of Catalan Holy Week, an event that every Holy Thursday completely transforms the streets of the municipality.