Mojácar began the religious acts of its Easter Week with the Procession of the Donkey and the Blessing of the Palms, which this year took place in the Plaza del Caño at the City Gate, an emblematic point of the old town and original entrance to the municipality through which Mojácar was accessed, going through the wall that centuries ago protected it.
At 11 in the morning the Parish Priest, accompanied by the children who will receive their first Communion this year, went to the City Gate, where he proceeded to bless the palms that numerous residents and visitors carried in commemoration of the entrance of Jesus to Nazareth.
Today Tuesday, 4th of April, the Way of the Cross will take place, going from the Santa María Parish Church, going around the village streets, carried by float bearers and accompanied by the prayers of residents and visitors who escort it throughout the route.
On Maundy Thursday at 6.30pm, the “in Coena Domini” Holy Mass will start following the papal bull proclaimed by Pope Urban V, to, at 10.30pm, start the procession of Our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth and the Our Lady of Sorrows.
On Good Friday, 7th of April, at 12 midday, the Procession of the Meeting will start, one of the most beautiful that takes place in Mojácar, recovered from tradition.
The Virgin, with black mantle, and her son, the Nazarene, depart from the Santa María Parish Church and direct their steps along different routes through the old town, enveloped in a sepulchral silence, both accompanied by the light of the faithful’s candles.
The Plaza del Caño is the meeting point. The Virgin awaits him, and the bearers of the Nazarene, in front of his mother, make the “three falls” while everyone intones the Salve Mojaquera with great devotion and seclusion.
After officiating, at 6.30pm in the Santa María Parish Church, the Holy Offices of the Passion, Death of the Lord and the Adoration of the Cross, at 10.30pm the procession of the Holy Burial will take place, which will go around the streets of the locality in silence.
During these days, the streets of Mojácar are the scene of processions with platforms made especially in keeping with the streets of Mojácar: narrow, winding and especially beautiful, which throughout Easter Week are full of the scent of incense, candles and flowers. Nor could there be absent the faithful, Nazarenes and Manolas (women wearing black and mantillas), who walk in procession accompanied by the notes of the Municipal Music Band.
In Mojácar there exist two Brotherhoods: the Nazarene and the Our Lady of Sorrows, made up of residents who throughout the year are responsible for finding the means to maintain the images and the platforms, adapt them and carry them in procession.
This locality has always had a great tradition in Easter Week. Before the Spanish Civil War, with a parish that had a spectacular wooden altarpiece, choir and images of great artistic quality from the hands of Salcillo, the population expressed itself around the most significant acts in which the whole village took part.
At this time the Santa María Parish Church was burned, the only one in the area that was destroyed, including the images of its interior and the religious and civil documents.
The image of Our Lady of Sorrows was acquired in the 1940s. A carving of the Venetian school in the style of the 40s-50s, although the costumes she is dressed in at Easter Week were preserved from the time of greatest splendour and inherited from the Virgin of Salcillo.
The Nazarene also arrived, which travelled from its place of origin by train to Zurgena, where it was received and taken to Mojácar. Of great beauty, it is a painstakingly made carving which draws the admiration of all.
