Wednesday in the Málaga´s Holy Week. Miércoles Santo en inglés
Málaga has seven images on Wednesday.
Málaga
The holy week is one of the most important events in Spain. Tradition, faith and passion move millions of people from different places around the world. Last year, Malaga welcomed more than 6 millions of visitors because of this celebration.
Malaga city has more than 42 brotherhoods and more than 100 holy images.
OUR STAFF
Since the origin of our radio station, SER Malaga funded a professional staff to cover all of the events during this memorable week. Our media is known around Spain working in Malaga for more than 30 years and more than 10000 listeners. He also goes out to the streets to experience the great moments of Lent and, of course, throughout Holy Week.
MEDIADORA
Description
This brotherhood officially began to take part in the processions of the Holy Week in Málaga in 2015. It started with a procession just around their neighbourhood and after some years, it joined the Holy Week of Málaga. It is the brotherhood with the longest route on the Holy Wednesday, with approximately a nine hour procession to the centre of the city and back.
This statue of Christ is the only one in the Holy Week of Málaga who holds the cross in front of his body and does not carry it on his back. It represents the moment when Jesus offers his life to save mankind. No other image represents this passage of the Bible.
As for the Virgin, she carries a small statue of a boat in her left hand, a “jábega”, which is found only in Málaga and was used by fishermen in the city.
How are they dressed?
The nazarenos accompanying Christ wear black tunics and capirotes, white capes and a while cíngulos. The nazarenos in the section of the Virgin wear blue tunics and white cíngulos.
SALESIANOS
Description
It is the only brotherhood of the Holy Wednesday with a single float, although it is carrying several images on it. Besides the crucified Jesus, we can find a statue of the Virgin, María Santísima del Auxilio, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Mary of Cleophas and Saint Mary Salome. As a curiosity, unlike the rest of the brotherhoods, Salesianos command and organise their procession by banging a stick on the floor. This stick is carried by the penitents in charge of organising the procession. It differs from the rest of brotherhoods as all of the others use small bells. The pounding of the stick on the ground indicates when the procession must stop or resume the route.
How are they dressed?
Black tunics and capirotes and a cíngulo made from straw as a belt. The tunic has the shield of the brotherhood embroidered on it.
FUSIONADAS
Description
This brotherhood is born from the union of four brotherhoods. It is by far the one with most floats in Málaga, four in total: three Christs, two of them crucified, and a Virgin. The crucified Jesus of Ánimas de Ciegos is one of the oldest of the Holy Week of Málaga, dating back to 1649. What also makes this special is that it is escorted by a Paratrooper Brigade, with links to this image since 1955, and are honorary members of the brotherhood.
Before taking part in the procession with this float, which follows the Cristo de Azotes y Columna and the Santísimo Cristo de la Exaltación floats, the Paratrooper Brigade arrives in the city of Málaga on the Holy Tuesday, when they perform the guard to the Cristo de Ánimas de Ciegos in the church of San Juan. The Brigade takes on an important role on the Holy Wednesday. Early in the morning we can see them parading through the streets of Málaga until they arrive at the Church of San Juan, where they stand in formation and the troop is inspected before entering the temple. Minutes later, the statue of the Christ is transferred to the church with a short procession through the adjacent streets (Calderón de la Barca, Fernán González, Cisneros, Especerías, Nueva, Félix Sáenz Square, San Juan) and afterwards it is placed on the main float. In the afternoon we can see the Brigade parade and perform different routines with their weapons. This type of “show” is very common in the Holy Week of Málaga, where it is usual to see different military corps parade alongside the images.
How are they dressed?
The nazarenos of the Azotes y Columna section wear purple tunics and white capirotes. Those of Exaltación wear black tunics and red capirotes; those of Ánimas de Ciegos wear black tunics and capirotes and, finally, those of the Virgen del Mayor Dolor wear blue tunics and capirotes with the cross of San Juan embroidered on the chest and a belt made of straw.
PALOMA
Description
This brotherhood is one of the most anticipated ones on the Holy Wednesday, especially by children. In the hours prior to the start of the procession, many Malagueños can be seen carrying cardboard boxes containing a pigeon. The purpose is to free the bird from the box when the Virgen de la Paloma passes in front of them. This is done in remembrance of what happened in 1925, when a pigeon alighted on the Virgin's float and stayed there during the entire procession. Nowadays, the Virgin carries a statue of a pigeon in her left hand.
The float of the Virgen de la Paloma is one of the largest and heaviest of the Holy Week of Málaga, around 4,000 kilos. With such grand dimensions, the arbotantes (you can check the exact meaning of this term in the dictionary included in this app) are automated and move towards the interior of the float so that it can pass through the narrowest streets on its route. Without this mechanism, it would be impossible.
The throne of Christ is also widely known in the city. Not so much for the figure of Jesus, but rather for the executioner that accompanies him known as 'Verruguita', due to the visible warts on his face. In most of the Málaga families who are linked to the Holy Week world, the figure of the 'Verruguita' is used as a similar figure to the “coco”, who hides under the bed and takes children if they do not behave well. Therefore, it is easy to hear parents saying to their children: "If you do not behave yourself, the Verruguita will come".
How are they dressed?
The tunic of the nazarenos in the section of Christ are made of burgundy velvet and the capirote is made of white satin. In the Virgin’s section, the nazarenos wear blue velvet tunics and white capirotes.
RICO
Description
The brotherhood of El Rico is one of the most popular ones on the Holy Wednesday. There are several special characteristics of this brotherhood that should be highlighted. First of all, one of the main moments of the Holy Week of Málaga is the release of a prisoner. It is a tradition that dates back to the year 1759. Each year, several prisoners are proposed to receive a reprieve from the Government. Usually prisoners convicted of minor crimes, never blood crimes.
In Málaga the tradition says that it is the image of Jesus “El Rico” who "liberates" the prisoner. This is the result of a legend that tells us what happened in Málaga 258 years ago. At that time, while the plague devastated the city, the criminals locked in the prison proposed to take a nearby Christ in a procession and ask God to alleviate the misfortunes of the city. King Carlos III refused, but the prisoners started a riot and managed to carry out the procession through the most affected areas, while still in their shackles. According to legend, once the procession was over, they returned the statue of Christ to the convent and the plague ended suddenly. Since then, El Rico releases a prisoner each year.
This ceremony takes place in the Plaza del Obispo. Here, the image of Jesus blesses the city of Málaga, something that happens again at the end of the procession before it enters the brotherhood house. It does this with the help of an articulated arm. This statue of Jesus and the one of the Nazareno de El Paso, belonging to the brotherhood of Esperanza, are the only articulated statues of the Holy Week of Málaga. Also, this statue of Jesus has natural hair, instead of hair carved in wood. Finally, we should note that regardless of the weather conditions, if it is raining or not, the procession of the brotherhood of El Rico always goes out on the streets, in order to free the prisoner.
How are they dressed?
The nazarenos of the section of Christ wear purple velvet tunics and capirotes, while the nazarenos in the section of the Virgin, wear blue velvet tunics and capirotes. Both sections wear cíngulos as belts. Additionally, this brotherhood is the only one in Málaga wearing capirotes called “habichuelas” (kidney bean shaped capirotes).
SANGRE
Description
This is one of the oldest brotherhoods in Málaga, dating back to the year 1507. We should especially highlight the float of the Christ, which carries a large sculptural group, representing the moment when Christ is given a thrust from a spear to check if he was dead. Occupying most of the space on the float is the Roman soldier, riding the horse Longinos. This soldier is the one with his spear who checks if Jesus was still alive.
As so often happens with the oldest statues, Cristo de la Sangre also has his own legend. According to the story, some men were fishing on their boat near the shore, at the beach of Málaga, when they were surprised by a storm. The storm moved their “jábega” (typical boat from Málaga) so far away that it was impossible for them to see any part of the beach or the mountains of the city. When they realised their situation was not improving, the sailors decided to pray, imploring God to have mercy on them. Then the fishermen saw a ray of sun beam down onto the stormy water surrounding them and there was a statue of a crucified Christ on top of the waves. The skipper of the boat sailed in the direction of the statue and the storm stopped. Then the men picked up the statue of Christ and once they had it on the boat, they saw blood was coming out from a wound on Christ’s ribs. When they arrived ashore, all their relatives were there and when they saw the sailors they thought that they were carrying a dead man in their arms. But they then realised that it was Jesus and they knelt before him.
Regarding the Virgin, Virgen de Consolación y Lágrimas, what stands out is her impressive gold embroidered mauve cape - a colour representative of this image and worn only by her. It is considered the largest cape of the Holy Week, eight meters long by five meters wide. In addition, this is the only virgin whose “candelería” (set of candles placed on the front part of the float in order to illuminate the image) is distributed in a different way. They are placed in a shape of half-moon and the candles are decreasing in size, the tallest ones at the corners and smallest ones at the centre.
How are they dressed?
The section of Christ wears red velvet tunics with red satin capirotes. The section of the Virgin wears mauve velvet tunics and mauve satin capirotes.
EXPIRACIÓN
Description
This brotherhood closes proceedings of the Holy Wednesday. It starts the procession at the stroke of midnight and does not finish until well into the early hours of dawn. It is differentiated from the rest of the brotherhoods of this day by its serious atmosphere. The main uniqueness in this procession is the presence of the Guardia Civil, honorary members of the brotherhood since 1938, dressed in their gala uniforms and on horseback, who lead the procession.
The start of the procession of the Cristo de la Expiración takes place practically without any light or music, only funeral requiems and the sound of a drum that beats a deep sombre beat. This image of the crucified Jesus is one of the most characteristic of Málaga. It represents the moment in which Jesus Christ dies on the cross and has the greatest display of iconography of all the floats of the Holy Week of Málaga. In the lower part of the float we can see different saints and some prophets who predicted the coming of Jesus. On a second level, we can see relieves representing the second part of the throne, the relieves of the Saint Augustine Stations of the Cross. The cross of Christ, made of dark mahogany, rests on a mantle of purple bougainvillea and at his feet we can see a “tricornio”, the Guardia Civil three-cornered hat, as a tribute to this corp. The cross is flanked by two torches and on the front side of the throne there is a chest containing earth and blood in memory of those fallen while defending the Sanctuary of Santa María de la Cabeza (in Andújar, Jaén).
The float of the Virgin is one of the widest ones of the Holy Week of Málaga. The Virgin wears a cape more than eight meters long and more than four meters wide, made of black velvet and embroidered with gold thread.
How are they dressed?
The nazarenos of the section of Christ wear purple velvet tunic and capirote, with a golden cíngulo and a golden scapular.
The nazarenos in the section of the Virgin wear black velvet tunics and capirote, golden cíngulo and a golden scapular.
