ARCHIVED - Murcia Semana Santa, Coloraos stain the streets red

The parade of the Coloraos, Murcias best loved Semana Santa procession

Its as though the world has stopped turning this week, and news is as scarce as a 500 euro note in a charity collection bucket, the whole attention of the Spanish media focused on Semana Santa and the tradition and pride this week engenders in the population.

Even the politicians seem to have stopped bickering, donned their capirotes and taken to the streets, prominently featuring in every procession, or being visibly photographed watching one.

Trying to photograph the exit of the splendid tronos from their sancturies this week has been like taking part in a giant press rugby scrum, as the moment a perfect shot is lined up ready to be taken, three film crews and half a dozen photographers move in front of the lens, bare-faced cheek, determination and the over-ruling desire to push everyone else out of the way and get that shot being the most important attributes to possess this week.

Tonight is the magnificent procession of silence, in which street lights across the region are extinguished and the rows of penitents file past in eerie silence, the only sounds being the crunch of their feet and the rhythmic ring of staffs on cobbled streets.

All of our local towns will participate in this procession tonight, and wherever you go, be it the intimate streets of Alhama or Cartagena, or the wide, open spaces or Murcia or Lorca, the sense of loss and solemnity experienced tonight, the night when the world acknowledges its shame for the act of political compromise which lead to the death of Jesus is remembered.

Tomorrow night you can see the biggest parades of the week, the spectacular biblical parade in Lorca, the military precision of gleaming silk robes in Cartagena, or the chaotic overwhelming generosity of spirit in Murcia.

If you feel up to a challenge, the most important sculptures in Murcia are parading tomorrow at 8am, with the most famous Salzillos leaving the Salzillo museum to pass  through the antique quarter, followed by the larger parade at night.

And of course, youve still got Saturday and the joy of the Sunday morning resurrection parades to come.

Yesterday we photographed the Coloraos parading through Murcia, 4000 figures clad in red staining the streets with the blood of Christ.

Far from being an overwhelmingly pompous occasion, it was astonishingly homely.

Inside the Iglesia del Carmen we photographed the florists preparing the pasos for their journey through the streets, seeing the exquisite detail of the tronos close-up. As the first penitents arrived, we realized that far from being the sleek, rigid, immaculate figures of the Cartagena processions, these penitents all looked a little too overweight for their own good.

Closer inspection revealed that each carried a huge burden- kilos of sweets, gifts , boiled eggs and Mona de Pascua sweet breads inside their robes, ready to distribute amongst the watching crowds.

They told us that this tradition goes back to the day when Murcian agricultural workers would share their food with travellers, a generosity of spirit which is celebrated in the traditions of the Coloraos, the Cofradia of the Huerta, the orchards of Murcia.

Even the floats echoed the gift of food, habas, broad beans used as decoration instead of flowers, and one of the older, bare-footed penitents told us he had always given broad beans out in the days before packaged sweets were affordable.

One of the most interesting differences between these Coloraos and many seen in other towns is the shortness of their robes and characteristic hand knitted stockings, many embroidered with detailed designs, according to their pasos, so the portapasos carrying Saint Peters denial of Christ had characterful cockerels embroidered into their stockings, and all wore hand made espadrillas, the footwear of the campo, the manufacture of which sustained this region for many years, both Aguilas and Caravaca de la Cruz being important centres of hemp manufacture.