The Virgin of the Blue Step moved people on her way through the race, under an incessant rain of petals and preceded by hundreds of manolas
The Virgin of Sorrows left behind the walls of the church of San Francisco. For the first time in two years, the heavy doors of the baroque temple opened for her to leave in procession. Ahead of her, an exciting journey of 1,600 meters of her on her silver throne, on the shoulders of 92 portapasos that swayed her under the soft cadence of the embroidered canopy that the painter Emiliano Rojo devised for her. Through the streets, the people of Lorca stood up at her step and covered her, dedicated, with ‘vivas’ and flower petals. The beautiful carving of Capuz filled the Easter Week race in Lorca with pain and glory in its first procession since 2019, closing an unfortunate parenthesis opened by the pandemic that left on hold the brotherly illusion of a town dedicated to this celebration.
She put the finishing touch to an elegant and simple procession, presided over by the Brotherhood of Farmers, the Paso Azul, on its most important day of the year. The image wore its most valuable jewel: the sword of pain made of gold and precious stones that passes through its heart and that was a gift from the Brotherhood of Farmers in 2004. It also wore on its head the crown that premiered on the day of its canonical coronation in 1997, in which the symbols of passion appear. The carving of Capuz was dressed by the blue women in the pink brocade suit, and it came out in procession just as its image appears on the banner ‘El Reflejo’, covered by the mantle designed by Francisco Cayuela in 1904, declared a Site of Interest Cultural (BIC). Beneath this appeared the beautiful lace mantilla from Brussels, premiered in its onomastics and made in needlepoint between 1870 and 1890. The Association of Our Lady of Sorrows has acquired this unique piece in an exclusive antique dealer.
The silver throne was adorned with roses and, on the sides, were the cloths of San Juan and La Magdalena, also the work of Cayuela. Valuable embroidered pieces declared BIC such as the banners of the Veiled Angel, El Reflejo and the Guion banner, three of the masterpieces of the golden age of Lorca embroidery, were paraded very close to it.
Nazarenos and mantillas
La Dolorosa was preceded in the procession by the 12 Nazarenes of the Virgin with a navy blue velvet hood, embroidered in gold and silver, which recovers the embroidery technique used during the classical era and in which Marian scenes and the Passion of Christ. Behind the image, the Mater Dolorosa Musical Group, which accompanies her during her processional outings. Its components were dressed in military gala costumes from the time of Alfonso XIII and were in charge of playing the hymn to the Virgen de los Dolores, which the portapasos sang with songs during the journey.
Next to the Virgin, hundreds of women dressed in Spanish mantillas carried candles in procession. The cavalry squad of the Civil Guard, made up of the 13 horsemen who make up the musical section of this unit and who have been the infallible escort of the Virgin for more than 20 years, closed the parade. The tradition of the Benemérita accompanying the owner of the Paso Azul dates back to the second half of the 20th century, when the Civil Guard on horseback opened the biblical-passionate parades. The custom was lost when the horse section was removed from the city and was recovered in 1999.
El Paso Azul will celebrate tonight in the church of San Francisco one of its most solemn acts, the Salve that Juan Antonio Gómez Navarro created for La Dolorosa and that will sound in an atmosphere of great recollection at 8:30 p.m.
#Pain #glory #procession