Easter Parades of Oviedo
This was the first time I’d managed to visit Spain during the Easter holidays and I was particularly looking forward to seeing the Easter parades with their colourful and somewhat macabre outfits. The area surrounding the Asturian city of Oviedo is home to my wife’s ancestral family roots and for some reason I found myself having an immediate affinity to the impeccably well mannered people, the beautiful mountainous green land and wholesome rustic cuisine.
The parades themselves are a sombre affair as the hooded men file past accompanied by pipe and drum the local priests pray as they manipulate their rosary. They form an important focal point for cultural celebration and every time the pipers played the regional hymn Asturias Patria Querida (hear below) the surrounding crowds would burst into song with a moving fervour.
| Good Friday Parade : |
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| Christ prior to crucifixion. |
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| Christ after death. |
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| His grieving mother, The Virgin of the many sufferings. |
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| Bagpipers follow the parade through town. | With a whole orchestra of traditional instruments. |
| Easter Sunday Parade : |
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| Drummers leading the parade. |
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| The risen Christ. |
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| Candle bearers. |
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See the full set of photos from Oviedo Easter Parades here.
Click below to hear regional anthem Asturias Patria Querida (Asturias my dear homeland) played by traditional pipers :
I would get out of there as fast as I could. Those Ku Klux Klan in different colours makes a big difference: gives them a more up-lifting sort of… importance. The drums nearly knocked me out of the seat. “Roll on” man.
Y:-) Paddy.
Fascinating post into another world. Superb pics. You did well to get there.
Just having another, closer look at these pics and you know, they freak me a bit. I’m not sure how Christian Ku-Klux-Klan hoods are in a Christain context. They’re more than appropriate for the opposition.
I rather resent the [serious] comparison of this ceremonial dress to the KKK, this style of enactment of The Passion pre-dates American racist lynch-mobs by many hundreds of years and has no connection to them or their ideology.
In conversations with the locals I understood two possible explanations for the style of dress :
1) The hoods represent the executioners of Christ and provide anonymity for the people enacting the events so that “simple people” would not somehow associate the individuals taking part with the original act.
2) The hoods represent acolyte souls of the unborn and the dead who accompany Christ in his journey from the living world into heaven and back again.
In spite of their fearsome appearance it is a sombre yet joyful celebration because it is rooted in our salvation.
Whatever the origins of the costumes they make for impressive imagery. And one thing I’ve learned from attending similar parades in Italy is that the people involved in them take them very seriously. It’s as if they’re putting on a real funeral rather than a re-enactment of one
Wolfie - we saw similar scenes in Sicily on Good Friday. Presumably this is a legacy of the Aragonese conquest and Spanish rule.
Stef @
I think its that enthusiasm and sincerity that makes it so wonderful to behold, I kind of miss it in our somewhat spiritually barren Northern Europe.
Steve @
Very likely indeed, well spotted.
Wow ! These are wonderful pictures. Thank you for posting them. I long for Spain, although I have never been in the Asturias. I have some catch up to do on your blog since i have been with the French elections. I lost and as I am writing Sarkozy is vacationing on Vincent Bolloré’s (France most riches men and on of the world fortunes) yacht near Malta.
It was a lovely trip and I’m looking forward to my next visit this Summer.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Sarkozy, he will have his work cut out to move the French civil service, let alone the people to his Anglo-Saxon economic model. I’m not holding my breath for a transformation.
I don’t think those hoods represent the KKK. Different symbols mean different things depending on the culture and historical context. Groups like the KKK and the Nazis hijacked a lot of sacred symbols and misused them, giving them a new meaning.
For instance, I’m living in Korea now. There are swastikas painted everywhere in some parts of the town where I’m at. There are plenty to be seen near Seoul. If you came here, you’d probably get the impression that Hitler left his mark on the world. But, the swastikas don’t mean the same thing here. Rather, the swastikas represent world peace, serenity, and unity in life and are a part of traditional Buddhist symbolism that pre-dates the Nazi era. Additonally, if one looks closely, one would notice that the swastikas here are backward when compared to the one the Nazis use. Since these were the original swastikas, then that means the Nazis reversed it. And, in doing so, perhaps they meant to reverse the message of world peace, serenity and unity.
The evidence that there are royal purple hoods along with the white ones clearly shows that this is not a Klan rally (21st century), but when put into the historical context of history, represents medieval executioners. See the relevant Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executioner
In studying the history of the KKK and similar groups, I know that the KKK wears all white robes to present “purity”. The grandmaster of the KKK wears a black robe (ironically) to exercise his authority and symbolize “death”. In some ways they rightfully are fitting into the same mold of the executioners of Christ by choosing to execute many of God’s children of color.