Semana Santa Cartagena, Parade of the resurrection closes an incredible week.

Semana Santa, Cartagena Spain, Domingo de Resurreccion.

 The final parade of the week, the procession of the resurrection when the colours of mourning are cast aside and triumphant whites herald the resurrection of Christ.

After a week of contrasting temperatures, the sun burst out into glorious warmth, accompanied by enough breeze to fill the air with the scent of exploding orange blossom and lilies as the smells of spring met with the sweetness of the resurrection parade and the streets glowed white with dazzling reflections from shining robes and sparkling embroideries.

Cohetes signaled the arrival of each paso as it reached its ultimate destination and Cartagena was packed to bursting as the last procession of the week wound its way through the crowds, accompanied by loud applause and cheering at its passage.

The shining lines

of capirotes slipped past in  perfect, orderly  co-ordination, interspersed with sweet munching gaggles of children and their parents, and jagged marching bands, drums beating out the wait as the pasos negotiated their way through the narrow streets.

It was almost too warm to sit in the sun and the seat vendors struggled to keep up as chairs were dragged from one side of the street to the other, double rows forming where there should have been singles, forcing the processions to veer off in places as the crowd straggled out into its path.

The procession ground to a halt on several occasions as a backlog built-up, once the returning pasos started to enter the church, negotiating the ramp up into Santa Maria being quite a logistical feat. Some of the longer floats are forced to turn quite sharply and sweep around in a very wide arc, forcing back the gathered crowds who manage to creep forward in- between the pasos, some even have to be towed up the ramp in a most inelegant fashion by a small truck waiting inside the church.

Sometimes theres no choice other than for everyone to push.

One paso which stood out particularly for us today was that of saint Peter, the fisherman, with nets of fish strung out, talking to Jesus, who is telling him the word of God. Its a really stunning piece of sculpture, and this is the only time weve actually seen real fish used in a display, its something that stood out as being really special in a seafaring port, and the smell of the fish in the hot sun was pretty memorable as well. 

The final moment of the morning featured whats known as an encuentro.

With all the other pasos safely tucked away inside the church, the last one, Mary, resplendent in a magnificent canopy of blue and gold was waiting at the bottom of the street, and we could see her gently swaying as her portapasos moved to the beat of the drums to lessen the burden on their shoulders.

Wed gone into the church to try and photograph Jesus as he entered, and a friendly native warned us to get outside and stand on the yellow line marked in the street at the bottom of the ramp.

With no idea what was about to happen, we parked ourselves on the line and waited, with Mary bobbing away down the street.

Suddenly a single bell rang , and the paso of Jesus, dripping with glorious white flowers and heavy with the scent of lilies appeared from out of the church, as Mary came shooting up the street almost at a run.

The two met, face to face on the yellow line, to a great shout of Vive la Virgen from the crowd and tumultuous applause, their bearers literally locking for a couple of seconds before they pulled back, bobbed to each other , then came together once again, acknowledging each other as the crowd sang the Miserere, before finally turning and entering the church one after the other.

Still reeling from our spiritual crushing experience we followed the Virgin into the church, as the crowd outside attempted to surge in after her.

The police quickly pulled the door to, and we were in the cool interior, the overpowering smell of lilies mingling with the noise of the hundreds of people who waited inside.

Again, the two thrones were lifted and Jesus and Mary acknowledged each other while the crowd again sang the Miserere and we were all blessed in the shortest of ceremonies, after which the floats were stripped, everyone leaving the church with an armful of flowers, each precious armful carrying a blessing for the end of Semana Santa.

It was a dramatic end to what has been the most astonishing and uplifting week discovering the ritual of Semana Santa across the region, and a journey which we couldnt recommend strongly enough to those with a desire to try and participate more in the life of those who grew up in this region.

The contrast between the different Cities is astonishing, the richness of tradition rewarding, and all we want to do now is explore some of the little corridors which are branching off all over the region following this week.

Its left us hungry for more. We want to go back to the Salzillo museum in Murcia and spend some time with the charming man we met at the murcian bidding ceremony who works in the museum and is passionate about these incredible sculptures.

We want to go back to the Paso Blanco and see the workrooms and drool over the embroideries at close quarters.

And we want to eat Pizza in some of those enticing little restaurants which we spotted whilst chasing after a Virgin and a brass band who had disappeared up an alleyway into charming little streets we didnt even  know existed.

So Vive la Virgen!

And heres looking forward to the next one.