Every year I tell myself that I should go and see the Thursday night parade in Orihuela. Starting at 11pm at night, the street lights go out and the city is plunged into darkness. The first sign that the parade is to begin is the sound of a horn which is followed by the rhythm of the drums.
Then the Brotherhood of Silence parade in their brown habits, wearing sandals on their feet, carrying candle light lanterns and penitential crosses. Along the route there are singers who wail songs of passion. Their paso is a cross bearing Cristo del Consuelo (1795, Jose Puchol). This parade has taken place each year since 1940. By all accounts it is an eerie but at the same time moving occasion that marks the death of Christ. It is one I have yet to see.
Likewise at dawn this morning the the Brotherhood of the Holy Christ of the Good Death, who signify that Christ did not die in vain, process through the streets and I have yet to see that as well.
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