After hours of uncertainty due to the threat of rain, the San Cristóbal neighborhood celebrated one of the most exciting moments of the year last night: the meeting of the three images of the Paso Encarnado in the Plaza de la Estrella. Thousands of people clothed the Christ of the Blood, the Virgin of Solitude and Our Lord Jesus of Penance.
The doors of the church of San Diego opened for the Cristo de la Sangre at nine at night, 15 minutes later the Cristo de la Penitencia left San Cristóbal and at half past nine, from the same temple, the Virgin of Solitude.
The three images made a different itinerary to converge at the Star, in a multitudinous penitential journey, which is already the most symbolic event of Holy Week in Lorca on the night of Holy Tuesday.
The Christ of the Blood, a 1949 carving by the image maker José Gerique, came out in this procession on the throne on a litter made by Pedro Lizarán, adorned as always with red flowers and carried by a hundred bearers. As they passed, the 'rabalero pride' was ignited, the manifestation of belonging to the San Cristóbal neighborhood that is displayed by all those who were born in its streets.
«It is a night of great emotion and many nerves. The moment in which the three images come together cannot be described,” Francisco José Romera, elder brother of Cristo de la Sangre, tells LA VERDAD. “We have been rehearsing for two months” so that the movement of the throne is “agile” and maintains the military martiality that characterizes it when leaving in procession.
On the cold night, the 1,200 kilo silver throne of the Virgin of Soledad also made its way through the narrow streets of the neighborhood. The carving made by the image maker Sánchez Lozano in 1963 showed off his embroidered black cloak and was carried by 76 women. The carving of Jesús de la Penitencia, by the Murcian sculptor José Antonio Hernández, is the most recent in Paso Encarnado, which incorporated it into its procession for the first time in 1999 and paraded again on its throne on the shoulders of 90 brothers.
At the top
Moment in which the costaleros of the Cristo de la Sangre raise the throne in front of the old bridge.
Jaime Insa / AGM
After the meeting of the three images, which remained face to face for a few minutes in the square, one of the most anticipated moments occurred. It happened when the step-bearers of the Cristo de la Sangre faced the throne towards the old bridge so that it could be seen by the crowd. They lowered the poles until they almost touched the ground and suddenly raised the throne to the top in one fell swoop.
The applause and 'vivas' broke the silence of the 'rabalera' night in the center of the San Cristóbal neighborhood.
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