The facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar will provide the setting for a celebration through which Zaragoza hopes to showcase its cultural heritage, traditions and, especially, its ties to Holy Week. Organizers have prepared an event combining different forms of popular religious devotion with elements characteristic of Aragonese culture.
JOTAS, REENACTMENTS AND A DISPLAY OF THE CRYSTAL ROSARY
One of the opening ceremony’s main attractions will be the variety of events taking place in Plaza del Pilar. Aragonese jota singing and dancing will have its own place, alongside the participation of a historical reenactment group and a small representation of the Crystal Rosary, one of Zaragoza’s most distinctive processions, which will have passed through the city’s streets just days earlier as part of the Pilar Festival.
There will also be a display of Zaragoza’s Holy Week, which was declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest in 2014. In this way, the event will allow young members of brotherhoods arriving from other parts of the country to discover some of the traditions that form part of the city’s identity.
Organizers view the opening as a showcase for Zaragoza, combining the religious and cultural expressions that have accompanied the city throughout its history.
A FLOWER OFFERING BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY
Before the show begins in Plaza del Pilar, the participating delegations will take part in another of the day’s highlights. At 8:40 p.m., they will make a flower offering to Our Lady of the Pillar, with representatives of the various brotherhoods and guilds bringing flowers from their respective delegations to the Basilica.
The gesture will symbolically bring the gathering’s participants together before Zaragoza’s patron saint, ahead of the opening ceremony at 9:00 p.m.
Although the JOHC will begin its first activities on Thursday, October 22, its official opening will take place on Friday. The gathering will continue throughout the weekend, with another key moment on Saturday, October 24, at 6:30 p.m., when an extraordinary procession of 23 floats will travel through central Zaragoza from La Seo.
Thus, on Friday, Plaza del Pilar will become the setting for a celebration bringing together jotas, brotherhood traditions, reenactments and a display of the Crystal Rosary, welcoming the young people taking part in one of Spain’s major national Holy Week gatherings.
