Date Published: 03/06/2021
ARCHIVED - Archena continues salt carpets tradition for Corpus Cristi in spìte of Covid restrictions
ARCHIVED ARTICLE The salt carpets are part of the traditional Corpus Christi Festival in the municipality
The municipality of Archena continued with its annual tradition of decorating the streets, parks and plazas with colourful carpets made from salt and organic materials in honour of the Corpus Christi festival on June 3 as normal, although the format and scale of the celebrations was understandably scaled-down due to the ongoing problems with Covid.
The salt carpets are laid out in the streets of the municipality, including Jardín de Villa Rías, Iglesias Parroquiales and the Town Hall plaza, and work began at around 7 am on Thursday (June 3), the carpets concluded around midday for the public to visit.
In light of the Covid restrictions, this year the carpets have been placed in different locations than in previous years to prevent agglomerations.
Some of the collectives and organizations who have designed and laid out the salt carpets include the Hermandad del Corpus, the Cofradías de Nuestro Padre Jesus y de las Ánimas and the Coro de San Juan Bautista, whose carpet represented the Book of the Gospels.
The festivities in honour of Corpus Christi, one of two patrons of the town, continued on Thursday afternoon (May 3) at 8 pm, however, this year the ceremony took place inside the Iglesia de San Juan instead of in the plaza del Principe, due to Covid restrictions.
According to a papal bull from the beginning of the 20th century, Archena is the only place in the world which celebrates the procession of Corpus Christi in the afternoon and this festival constitutes an important part of the history and tradition in this municipality.
Normally those who have received their first communion form part of the Corpus procession which passes over the salt carpets, stopping off to carry out blessings at decorated altars built along the route.