PPassion inCartagena

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Texto: Francisco Mínguez LasherasFotografías y maquetación: Moisés Ruiz CanteroCartagena, febrero/2002

Holy-Week is, undoubtedly, the most important yearly eventin Cartagena and, at the same time, the one which is lived withmost intensity by the Cartageneros.It is, above all, a commemoration of the Passion, Death, andResurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as being a popular festival.A religious manifestation, with an enormous popular under-ground, in which there a very singular touch of Mediterraneanstyle - light, color, smell, music, order and passion, great passion- lived in a unique way with the Holy-Week's Processions. Holy-Week that has as background the urban landscape of Cartagena,ascending over the slopes of five hills forming streets that breakinto infinitive nooks, corners, grades, and stairs to reach innu-merable panoramic views opened to sea, to the land and,always, to History.A millenary History warranted by a magnificent archeologicallegate. An incredibly rich archeological legacy (Roman Theatre,Punic Rampart, Torre Ciega, Roman Amphitheatre, ByzantineRampart, …) mixed with Modernism , which imprints on the city,along with its architecture, a peculiar character, an even colonialparticular flavor, the Plazas of Cavite and the Heroes ofSantiago de Cuba, next to the port, Peral's Submarine and manybuildings and squares that create nooks of extraordinary beauty.However, during Holy-Week, the most singular sight is of theglass-enclosed balconies on the facades of uncountable buildings,transformed by the sun into a thousand reflections, and bynight multiplied by the red-hot coals of the light of the ParadeThrones.Meanwhile, the geraniums, the little gypsies and the flowerygrass cover in violent reds, that go from pale and delicate roséto the carmine-purple; the flower-gardens from which the palm-

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PPassion inCartagena

trees grow in proud verticality contrasting with the generousleafiness of the most beautiful rubber trees that we can imagine,that like great cathedrals grow up pointing out, especially, thespring in Cartagena, pride of Cartageneros.Cartagena's Holy-Week is eternal spring, weighted down byHistory, of the religious, of the sentimental, and where a num-ber of personal, familiar, social and anthropological circumstan-ces are going to condition every one of the parts of the difficult,incredible, complex of forms, which make up and constitute thisHoly-Week of Cartagena, declared of National Touristic Interest.A week, strangely enough made up of 10 days, that goes fromFriday "of the Sorrows", day of the Virgin of Charity, excellentNeopolitan image, Patron of Cartagena, to Easter Sunday. Andduring which four Brotherhoods and nearly 50 passionategroups will march, day by day, harmonizing in almost 20 pas-sionate corteges in which the senses will feel the miracle whichmakes the spectator and processionest both vibrate with asupremely barroque exaltation, perceiving the beauty put at theservice of the Passion of Cartagena : its Holy-Week

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H I S T O R Y O F B R O T H E R H O O D

Four like the mystical rivers, four like the walls of heavenlyJerusalem, four like the evangelists, four like the four letters ofthe divine name - YHVH - - GOD -, are the brotherhoods, axis ofthe Holy-Week in Cartagena.And four colors define them: Purple: Passion and Penitence ; Red:Blood, Fire and Love ; White: Light and Purity ; Black: Mourning .Chromatics that are multiplied, combined and irradiate in a pro-digy of creativity in the multicolor dresses made of satins andvelvets, graceful capes, erected cowls and sublime embroide-ries, day by day, procession by procession, they form the Thirds- perfect symphony and algebra - in the compassed and inimi-table parades, that integrate each cortege.The most ancient brotherhood is the Royal and IllustriousBrotherhood of Our Father Jesus Nazarene (Marrajos). The dateof its foundation is unknown although its origins to back to thelast years of the XVI century, or first years of the XVII century.Popularly, its constitution is linked with the Fishermen'sFraternity, from which it takes the name by which everyoneknows it: Marrajo s. This belongs to a legend, according towhich some fishermen from La Azohía - small village on thecoast belonging to the municipality - captured a fish, namedMarrajo, that was brought into the port at dawn. The fish waschopped up and put up for sale to the public and load carriers.Not being stipulated the amount of taxes, the money from thesale was given to the Jesus Nazarene Brotherhood. Thus beganthe custom of giving the amount of the sale of all those Marrajosthat were fished every year. The village, by habit, got used to

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calling the Brothers of this brotherhood, by the name ofMarrajos. The brotherhood owns a chapel in the Santo DomingoChurch, inaugurated in 1732, with a notable barroque retable.Pope Clement XI, in 1716 granted a bull to its brothers withmany indulgences. In the same way, in 1857, Pius IX gave anot-her bull with new indulgences to the people who went to theliturgic ceremonies in the chapel of the Brotherhood.In ancient times, it organized the processions in the “AmarguraStreet” and the “Holy Burial”, the dawn and night of GoodFriday, respectively, adding to these ones those on HolyMonday and Saturday, and organizing three in the dawn ofEaster Friday, being these ones the ones that are actually set outin the streets.Its distinctive color is purple, and its emblem is a medal with aLatin cross in its field, on the sides the abbreviation in initialsJ.N., and it is trimmed by a crown of thorns, that has a coronel,the royal crown. Shield that dates from 1920, date when theMarrajos gave the title of Honorific Big Brother to King AlfonsoXIII, distinction that King Juan Carlos I has today.The Pontific, Royal and Illustrious Brotherhood of Our FatherJesus in the "Painful Throne of the Capture and Hope of theSalvation of the Souls" (Californians) was started on June 13th1747 before the inquisitor Diego José de la Encina, commissaryof the Holy Office of the Inquisition of the Kingdom, and Priestholder of the Parish of Santa María, where it is erected canoni-caly, and where it has a chapel of its property.In 1755 it formed a brotherhood with the Royal Brotherhood ofour Lady of Hope in Madrid, linking to its shield two criss-cros-sed anchors, symbol of hope, as their actual appearance, datingfrom 1772.

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According to some documents of the Brotherhood, King CharlesIII belonged to this brotherhood in 1783. With the initiative ofthe Brotherhood, it was erected a monument to that king waserected, inaugurated in June 1990, by Their Majesties the Kingsof Spain.Its brothers were known by the name of Californians, accordingto the tradition that short after the Brotherhood was constituted,some seamen who had collaborated in the expeditions of theVice-King Carlos Francisco de Croix in California lands, becamemembers of the brotherhood and gave it a great impulse.Pope Benedict XIV granted a bull with indulgences in 1750. TheBrotherhood had as main means of subsistence the charities thatwere given in the Dockyard Gate when the operators of theMaestranza came out of work, and also from the entries fromthe chant of the mortal sin , Wednesday nights, when the brotherswalk with lights and bells singing couplets that gave warningsto the mortals about the dangers of dying condemned men,moving them to piety.They also exploited a game named bochas where they celebra-ted bullfights and comedies.Initially they organized the procession of Holy Wednesday,extending it, later, to Friday of the Sorrows, Palm Sunday,Maundy Thursday and Tuesday, the days on which they cele-brate their processions today.Its emblematic color is red, and its emblem consists of two criss-crossed anchors, holding in its middle a still light, symbol of theCapture, and crowned by the Spanish Royal Crown.The Royal and Illustrious Brotherhood of out Father JesusResuscitated was set up in the midst of the MarrajaBrotherhood, as a group, in 1940. Its first procession, however,

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was not materialized until the Holy Week in 1943. On December29th of that year it is constituted as a brotherhood with ownentity.It has as distinctive color white, and its emblem is constituted bythe initial R put on a cross, born from a circle of clouds, andsurrounded by potencies, all framed by an olive branch and apalm. Since 1987, on the occasion of the honor nomination of BigBrother to Prince Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, the Royal Crownwas incorporated into its shield and the title of "Royal" to theBrotherhood, granted by his majesty the King Juan Carlos onSeptember 14th of the indicated year. Before that, since 1984, ithas the title of Illustrious, granted by the Bishop of Cartagenaon July 18th 1984.It organizes a procession the morning of Easter Sunday, beingvery special because of its colorfulness and happiness of itsevangelic message. It is the star, together with the withdrawal ofthe Virgin of Beautiful Love , in Santa María de Gracia Church,of one of the most emotive acts of the processions in Cartagena,when after the traditional chant of "salve" crowns the passiona-te cortege of every year.The very Noble, Devote, Most Illustrious and PontificBrotherhood of the Confraternity of Knights of the Holy Christof Succor was founded in the year 1691 by Pedro Colon dePortugal de la Cueva y Enrique, duke of Veragua and GeneralCaptain of the Galleys of Spain, approving its primitive consti-tution on February 2nd of the same year.The creation of the Brotherhood has its origins in the portentousfact which occured on March 13th 1689, according to whichManuel Colon de Portugal Ayala y Faxardo, second son of thedukes of Veragua, being 22 years old, gets miraculously cured

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from an illness that had him "in the last stringencies of life".The Brotherhood, along with its more than three hundred yearshas lived three different ages, that are the same as other situa-tions of declination and extinction, and successful new re-foun-dations. These are dated, apart from the original, in 1691, in1869, and 1961. The Brotherhood actually preserves its chapel inthe ruins of Santa María la Vieja Church, where it crowned itsChrist on January 21st 1691.The Brotherhood of the Succor, founded by thirty-three nobleknights of the city, is because of its austerity and eminent peni-tential character, the counterpoint of the rest of the passionateparades in Cartagena. Part of the procession goes through theold medieval district, boundaries of the Roman Theatre, a plet-horic area of characteristic and History.Its distinctive color, according to the foundational rule, is pur-ple, although after the re-foundation in the third epoch it adop-ted Black.Its shield is a big heart hugging other thirty-three hearts insideit, with a crown of thorns, terminated with the four spikes andthe cross, and surrounded by the Latin saying Ubi enim thesau-rus vester ist, ibi & cor vestrum erit , and the collar of the insigneOrder of the Gold Toisón.Ancient History those of every one of the four passionateBrotherhoods of Cartagena, that integrate the council of Holy-Week Brotherhoods official organism, dynamist of the Holy-Week in Cartagena.Brotherhoods all linked, directly or indirectly, with the sea, withthe so characteristic Mare Nostrum , of this Mediterranean citywhere so many famous characters passed through, likeHannibal, Scipion, Carlos I, or the famous author of Don Quijote,

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Miguel de Cervantes, that had described in his journey toParnasse, the port of Cartagena with the following verses:

"With this, little by little,

I reached the port.

To which the people from Carthago

Gave its name.

Closed to all winds

And covered.

To whose clear and

Singular renown

Bows down every port

Bathed by the sea

Discovered by the sun and

Sailed on by man."

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T H E S A C R E D I M A G E

Art, that constitutes the expression of every cultural moment,and, at the same time, is an integrated element in culture, has aspecial attention by the most notable religious motives, andespecially, by the issue of Passion.That is what happens in Cartagena, where the public cult, espe-cially in Holy-Week, with unique iconographic representations,deals with the main points of Passion, and also in honor of somesaints whose veneration is deeply rooted within the people ofCartagena, for different reasons, is singular. With an extense andrich sculptoric manifestation, authentic cathecism through thestreets of the city every Holy-Week.Images that acquire body and soul when they parade throughCartagena - real monuments of ephemeral architecture- amongtheir own musics, with true fervor and special feeling inheritedfrom generation after generation, and with the accompanimentof the Thirds of penitents with their sublime order.More than a hundred images are shown, since the coming in ofJesus in Nazareth to the Resurrected Jesus, that passion step bystep, image by image, with a splendid sculptoric representationwhere the most famous artists from Francisco Salzillo, the uni-versal Murcian sculptor paradigm of baroque religious sculptu-re, to the genius Mariano Beulliure or the insigne José Capuz,going through a wide catalogue of other sculptors and makersof images inheritors of the best Spanish sculpture tradition, thesacred image of our coming out of he inspiration of their mostillustrious creators.Christs and Virgins. Christ of Succor, of Compassion, of the

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Capture, of the Flagelation, of the Sentence, of the Lanced,Resurrected Jesus, … Lonely of Consolation, Virgin of theRosary, of the First Sorrow, of Hope, of Sorrow, of Piety, ofLoneliness, of Beautiful Love, … Marvelous groups truly scenic.The Last Supper, Prayer in the Gardens, Judas' Kiss, Coronationof Thrones, Descent, Burial, Appearence of Jesus to SaintThomas, to María Magdalena, to the Apostles, in LakeTiberiades, … Saints and Apostles, like María Magdalena,Santiago, Saint Peter, Saint John Evangelist.Images and images, having a life of their own in an unpara-lleled catecism exalting the religious feeling of the city, acqui-ring in Cartagena unique and marvelous peculiarities. Wherethe biblical speech becomes an accomplice of the urban speechof the city giving special set by means of which, as in a dream,the woods turn into living flesh and God and the Virgin can seethemselves, really, through the streets of Cartagena during tendays.

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S U M P T U A R Y A R T S

Holy-Week in Cartagena, while at the same time commemora-ting chronologically the Passion, Death and Resurrection ofJesus Christ, is proud of being, also passionate, and enthusiasticexaltation of art and beauty, where aesthetics reaches perfection.Hence, images are carried on artistic thrones, extremely carefulart works in wood-carvings gilded with fine gold, of exuberantbaroquism. And rather than moving, they walk. Because thethrones of Cartagena walk. They pass through the streets with ameasured compassed step, and ordered, as in the same thirds ofpenitents, of their throne holders. The shoulders of the throneholder, who make the Christ and the Virgin and the Saints walkthrough Cartagena measured by the compass of their passiona-te traditional marches, between the heady smell of thousands offlowers and, impregnated by the whisper and peace that theMediterranean, so close, offers.And the gold is set making authentic miracles on satins and,especially, on velvets, unique embroidery competing in banners,on most beautiful tunics or on the unusual trains of monumen-tality and proportion, that are worn by the images of theVirgins, leaving off being images to acquire body and soul, wit-hin the passionate feeling with which Holy-Week is lived, thePassion, that is Cartagena's Passion.And in the mantles of the Virgins, flaming in living gold, the bri-lliant images of Cartagena's days and nights are exhibited, filledup with spring, that is offered. It is the exuberant baroque, thatwants to give satisfaction by giving the most beautiful sorrow ofThe Mother in the passion of the Virgin. And art takes those

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threads of gold, and can draw any lace or imitate any flower.The Virgin's mantles flow and exhibit themselves overwhel-mingly. They are a cascade of gold which loving anxiety wantsto pour out as an example of unlimited generosity. And it achie-ves it.And if the ornament reaches between thrones and embroideriessublime degrees, it is not less the admiration that the gold andsilver work inspires, in which the silver and gold get a life oftheir through the most exquisite prodigies of filigrane, that gra-vers, engravers and burins, from the hands of the most appre-ciated artists, have achieved. Gold and Silver works, that areconverted into another element of popular theology, that is theHoly-Week in Cartagena, passionate, seductive, orthodox andheterodox at the same time.Sumptuary arts that are elements of this Holy-Week that capti-vates and enervates, and in which they are mixed in a uniquetreasury together with the monumentality of its thrones, itsembroideries, its gold and silver works, richness of clothing ofits penitents, of its Thirds of Jews and Granadines, the militarycast of the military participation in the parades, the naturalnessof the many "nazarenos" children, the celebration of acts as the"Lavatory of Pilate" or "The Reencounter”, the spectacular set-ting out of Saint Peter from the Military Dockyard, of the JesusNazarene from the Fish Ware-house, or the multi-popular reti-rement of the Virgin thrones at the ending of each procession.A unique week, that agglutinates above all, three symptomaticand distinctive characteristics, of light, flower and order, awhole series of distinctive strokes, that not breaking the har-mony of its passing, gives a genuine diversity that leads you tomultiple experiences more than singular.

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T H E P R O C E S S I O N S

If Holy-Week, the whole of it, is in Cartagena a paradigm ofthe unusual, all the year and, even more specially, since thebeginning of Lent, when from Ash Wednesday, with "The Call"the count-down starts to get to Friday of the Sorrows, and theHeads of the Brotherhoods meet together to set, in a heritageliturgy, to put the procession in the streets and, after, in a popu-lous manifestation, all Brotherhoods, to express the restrainedagreement. No less important are the acts around the religiousmusic festival, the liturgical functions, the Proclamation, theauthentic and the true eclosion of the singular and genuine areits passionate corteges. Its processions.A harmonic structured group that day by day, from Friday ofthe Sorrows to Easter Sunday, departing from a unique culturalatmosphere, gets to take God out into the streets giving testi-mony of authentic faith.Color and luminosity, music and silence, applause and tears,prayer and tumult, a festival for feelings and for the soul, meetin the processions of Cartagena, from which it could be said,according to Jose Maria Pemán, that there is nothing moreCatholic than Holy-Week in Cartagena.Processions, that from the magnificence and richness of HolyWednesday and Friday, to each of the other days of Holy-Week,make this a unique spectacle. With aspects as suggestive as theVirgin of the Loneliness of Consolation, practically at the Gate ofthe Roman Theatre, receiving on the morning of Friday ofSorrows a prayer converted into song, the popular "Salve".Or those that meet on Easter Tuesday when the image of SaintPeter, operator on the pay-role (Peter Marina Cartagena) of the

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military dockyard, receives the permission of "franco de ría"from the Admiral and the procession leaves from the militarybase escorted by a group of Marine soldiers, Santiago Apostolstarts his procession from the Naval Headquarters where he isgiven honors of Captain General, shouting the 21 orderly salvos(His Majesty Juan Carlos I is the honorary president of theSantiago Apostol Group), and Saint Juan Evangelist begins hisprocession in the Artillery Base. The three processions mergeforming one single procession.Or during the dawn of Maundy Thursday Saint Peter comesback, after the Wednesday procession, accompanied by thesound of the "double step" music called The Rooster, to theDockyard.And the dawn of Good Friday, when since the very first minu-tes of the day, the Jews and the Granadines' lively march agitateCartagena. And the Image of Jesus Nazarene from the FishDock run over the singular streets of the Fishermans Districtwith an explosion of "saetas" and are given free fish soup, andthe Nazarene with the voice, non stopping, of "Where are youcoming from? - From the Fish Dock - Where are you going? - ToSanta Maria - Who are you taking with you? - Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!Long Live Jesus!" they go to the meeting of Maria in the Path ofSorrows, that takes place in the Merced Square at dawn. Or when the Virgin of Beautiful Love marches up, with a legio-nary step, the steep street of El Cañón on the luminous morningof Easter Sunday.Everything is unique. And everything measured and calibratedwith precision by the Cartagenero for his Holy-Week. WhereGod is seen with eyes of a true miracle. The miracle ofCartagena's Holy-Week, Passion for Cartagena.

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P A S S I O N F O R C A R T A G E N A

This is Cartagena's Holy-Week. Impossible to describe becau-se there are no words to tell it, and not enough pictures to showit. Expression of the faith and culture of a country. The countryof the Cartageneros. A secular legate of raw ancestry inheritedgeneration after generation.A magnificent union where religious feeling -the infinite to God-and the luminous details of a millenary city, city of culturalcross-roads, are linked, and from which there appear the richestand most magnificent reality of the Cartagenero: Holy-Week.Cartagena, a city that watches the sea, watches God in the sameway, especially, when every year it commemorates the Passion,Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the days of Holy-Week the whole city appears again, with the same spring.Its modernist architecture is mixed with baroque architecturewith its processional thrones and with a unique touch of its pro-cessions, that offer a unique aesthetical configuration in the city,welcomingly unique.Cartagena's Holy-Week, you must live it in situ and, therefore,feel it... and then you will feel it and live it as your own. Only inthis way, lit by its light, among the ecstasy of its flowers anddeep inside the unique order you will understand what by anyother means would be impossible to understand. It is the pas-sion of Cartagena, get passionate yourself as well with it.

A miracle in your hands.

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©Jos

é Alba

ladejo

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