Easter Week in Tortosa has always been extremely popular. A rich range of traditions have developed around the festivities, some of which have lasted to the present day, while others have been forgotten. There follows a brief summary of the key examples.
During Lent, it is typical to eat Bunyols de Quaresma (fried dough balls).
From Holy Saturday to Holy Wednesday, after evening mass, at the largest altar in the diocese, they held the important ceremony to worship the Vera Creu (True Cross), which was announced to the people by the bell of the Verge de la Cinta (Virgin of the Ribbon) which rang thirteen times. The sacred Lignum Crucis with which the priest blesses the people was a relic from the Gothic period in the form of a cross with fragments of the True Cross, a gift to our Cathedral from Pope Benedict XIII, known as Papa Luna in Spanish.
Palm Sunday
On Palm Sunday, children carry the palm given to them by their Godmother. Olive and laurel branches can also be seen. They are always decorated with violets, sweets and candy rosaries. The interesting custom of hanging oranges from the palms (the quintessential fruit of the sun, as even its name indicates, “meaning ‘golden’ or ‘the colour of the sun’, with the initial ‘t’ in the Catalan equivalent ‘taronja’ coming from the primitive Catalan and Pre-Roman article.
Therefore, ‘taronja’ means ‘the golden’ or ‘the sun-coloured’) but this tradition is hardly observed any more, like the custom of hanging colourful flakes and necklaces of baked treats (congers, sponges, pies, candied pears and, for the working classes, sardines and dried figs).
When Mass finishes, it is traditional to go to the central path of the municipal park and take souvenir photographs (Palm Sunday is still a day when we are expected to show off our new clothes and shoes). The palm is hung from the balconies or windows to protect the houses from lightning strikes and keep evil spirits away. The following year, the palm is burnt and replaced with the new one.
In rural towns, on the afternoon of Palm Sunday, it used to be customary to have what was known as the “sermon of the plough”. The priest explained the story of the Passion, using a plough as a storytelling and memory device, comparing each of the main episodes of the holy tale to the pieces and components of the plough, a very familiar item to the peasentry, who made up the priest’s congregation. There is a general consensus that this style of sermon was started by the Tortosa-born priest of Vallfogona, Francesc Vicent Garcia, who started this technique to give greater insight into the importance of the Passion of the Messiah to his parishioners, who were all countryfolk.
Easter Week in Tortosa reaches its main event on this day in the afternoon, with the Procession of the Passion, which is always the first to be held in Catalonia. One characteristic feature is that the Brotherhoods of the Nazarenes and the Vestals give out sweets to the faithful. This is an eastern tradition that can be found is places as far away as Oliva, on the border between Valencia and Alicante.
Until the last quarter of the last century, with locals dressed as Romands at head of the procession. The role of Captain Manaia was assigned to the tallest man in the town willing to do so. He was in charge of performing the Observance, an act that involved turning the labarum three times while kneeling, both outside the Església dels Dolors (Church of the Sorrows) as well as within the Cathedral. He also had to ensure that the procession returned punctually at the agreed time. Children, dressed as Roman soldiers, who went in front lighting the way with torches were known as the "cap d'olla” (pot top). The military appearance of the soldiers, dressed as Romans, the monotonous beat of the drums and the striking of spears on the ground are aspects that have gradually disappeared and it is groups from outside of the city that take part in the procession (Guilds of soldiers from Flix, Alcanar and Torredembarra). However, these soldiers no longer carry a knapsack of sweets on their arm as the local groups used to do.
In olden times, two brothers from the Sant Hospital de la Santa Creu (Holy Hospital of the Sacred Cross) would walk in front with trays to collect alms for the Hospital. They sang the following refrain: “Whether or not you think or believe it, charity for the love of God for the Hospital de la Santa Creu", which now forms part of the heritage of Spanish literature. In contrast to today’s custom, the Creu dels Improperis (Cross of the Unworthy), a characteristic component of our Easter Week celebrations, was always carried by a priest accompanied by the town’s authorities, who held the tassels.
Holy Wednesday
In the afternoons of Holy Wednesday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the solemn ceremony or torchlight procession welcomes the majority of Tortosa’s children, with mallets and ratchets, along with a large crowd of worshippers. Nowadays, the Stations of the Cross are staged in the Jewish Quarter.
Holy Thursday
This is when the Monument (or ‘moniment’ as it states in the documents) or the tomb of Jesus Christ is prepared and displayed. The time that Our Lord spent in the Monument has generated a great series of beliefs related to this day (traditionally, people do not sweep on this day, to avoid spreading beetles). It is still popularly believed today that children born on this day have healing powers, etc. In olden times, people fasted in a ritual known as the ‘dejuni de les batzoles’ (fast of the rattles). The symbolic act of cleaning poor people’s feet used to take place in the Cathedral’s cloister.
Previously, on this day, the people of Tortosa carried rattles or ratchets around their necks in the shape of a guitar, which were played by turning a crank like a hurdy-gurdy. Some were so large that they had to be carried around on a cart. They made an infernal racket.
On Holy Thursday, the Procession of Silence is held late at night.
Good Friday
On Good Friday, it is traditional to go out to the countryside early in the morning and pick sprigs of thyme, which are thought to have recognized medicinal properties on this day. They are used throughout the year to make the classic sopa escaldada (‘scalded soup’), which contains a sprig. Moreover, boiled water with thyme is widely used to clean cuts, wounds and all kinds of skin conditions. It used to be used to boil the clothes of the sick and mothers of newborns, as well as being burnt in sugar to give a fragrance to a room.
First thing in the morning, the Cathedral was the venue for the so-called ‘Sermon of the Slaps’ (as the preacher having explained how the executioners of Sanhedrin struck Jesus, he slapped himself and was then copied by the people who listened to him).
At midday, at the Església del Roser (Church of the Rosary), the ‘Sermon in Seven Words’ was held, which involved the sounds of lightning and thunder at the end of the sermon.
One this day, when everybody generally fasted strictly, people had a large, early lunch. It was also traditional to move the hands of the Cathedral clock forward.
In the afternoon, people take part in the Procession of the Burial of Christ, with the Cathedral’s statue of Christ rising from the sacred tomb, accompanied by members of the Nazarene, Penitents and Mary Magdalene brotherhoods. The tradition of giving out sweets during this procession has been lost.
One of the key religious ceremonies is the recreation of the Stations of the Cross which is held in the Calvary (the Church of the Calvary, dedicated to the Seraph of Assisi, Saint Francis, where the Act of the Skulls and Affronts of the Passion took place. The Crosses exude extraordinary solemnity, being carried on Friday evening, and on Easter Sunday first thing in the morning).
On this day, it is traditional to eat chickpeas in sauce (recorded as far back as the Llibre de les Viandes recipe book from the 14th Century, stating that the convent community ate the dish on Holy Thursday), mandonguilles d’abadejo (codfish balls) with hard-boiled egg, and the essential Torrades de Santa Teresa (slices of toast soaked in milk, quickly fried in very hot oil then dipped in sugar and cinnamon).
A really typical dish is known as Cigrons de Fra Pere (Brother Pere’s Chickpeas), cooked in an iron or copper pot, with alternating layers of chick peas and spinach, mixed with a few grains of rice which cannot later be found, all given flavour with the finest aguardiente spirit and a dash of oil. The chickpeas should be left in the liquid that comes from the spinach, together with the aguardiente and oil.
Another typical feature of this night’s feast is the cóc d’espinacs [spinach pastry], savouries, in sugar, and garnished with raisins and pine nuts.
Easter Saturday
From the baptistry of the Cathedral, women used to collect water blessed the day before known as ‘water of agony’. They used it to sprinkle in the rooms, bedrooms and yards of their houses to ward off evil spirits. The water was also sprinkled at times of hardship for a member of the family.
This was a day filled with old customs, such as airing out clothes while the bells ring to celebrate the glory in order to prevent ringworm, or carrying a stone from the river to protect you from tooth pain or travel sickness.
Easter Sunday
In the morning, the Procession of Jesus meeting his Mother used to take place. It started at the Cathedral at the Baptistry door, carrying the statue of the Blessed Sacrament under a canopy, before meeting the sculptures of the Sacred Host and the Tender Mother at the small chapel.
This is also the day on which Godparents traditionally give their Godchildren monas, decorative cakes or scenes of chocolate or pastry circles, often filled with cabell d'àngel (threaded pumpkin jam) or marzipan and sprinkled with Papa Benet sugar water. Nowadays, sweet flourbreads are also popular. The day is usually celebrated at home with the family.
Easter Monday
This day saw the Festival of the Our Lady of the Miracle, the main figure of a tradition linked to the gateway of Tarragona. It is traditional to go to the countryside and eat the mona.
Easter Tuesday
On this third day of the Easter holiday, the statue of Christ was carried under a canopy to the sick and disabled.
