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Friday, March 29, 2024

Ibiza’s ‘Semana Santa’ returns with enthusiasm and excitement

The brotherhoods of Vila, which will publish in the coming days a small publication with all the planned Semana Santa events , have already contacted the tourist information offices so that they can provide visitors with the program of this religious celebration.

After two years without Semana Santa processions, the brotherhoods of Ibiza “are excited and eager to take to the streets” although they are not throwing caution to the wind because they are “aware that the pandemic is not over”. The was explained by Nieves Jiménez Bonet, the highest representative of the brotherhood of the Santísimo Cristo del Cementerio and president of the board of the brotherhoods of Vila, a position she has held since 2020, the year in which the outbreak of the pandemic forced the suspension of this religious celebration.

The brotherhood presided by Jiménez, the oldest on Ibiza, has been in charge this year of coordinating the events and making the poster for Semana Santa in Vila, which was unveiled along with those of Santa Eulària and Formentera on March 18th in the church of Santo Domingo. The presentation took place coinciding with the proclamation of the bishop of Ibiza, Vicent Ribas Prats, which officially started the program of events of this religious festival.

The image of the Holy Christ, taken in 2011 by Alejandro Marí Escalera, is the protagonist of Vila’s poster, which reflects the masses, celebrations and processions led by the brotherhoods and events organized by the diocese of Ibiza. For the first time, the poster features a QR code through which you can view detailed information on each of the brotherhoods of the municipality.

“As the number of events planned by the brotherhoods increases each year, a booklet in digital and paper format”, has also been published which will be released in the coming days, which iwill provide more detailed information on all the events of Semana Santa, including triduums and concerts. This publication is one of the novelties introduced this year by the brotherhoods of Vila which aims to reach as many people as possible to promote Samana Santa on Ibiza. With this objective in mind, they have contacted “the tourist information offices so that they can provide visitors who come to the island with this program”, offering them the opportunity to learn how this religious festival is celebrated on Ibiza. Jiménez assures that the Consell “is also interested in promoting the Semana Santa”, judging by the meeting that its president, Vicent Marí, will hold this Thursday with all the brotherhoods. It is forseeable that in that meeting,  the islands highest institution will specify the economic support it will offer to the brotherhoods, that other years has been allocated to the floral decorations. Ibiza’s City Council of Ibiza will also collaborate by subsidizing the posters. These institutional economic aids, remarks the president of the Brotherhood of the Santísimo Cristo del Cementerio, are more than ever appreciated after two “complicated” years in which brotherhoods like hers have decided not to charge a fee to their members.

The procession of the Holy Burial

The central events of the Holy Week of Vila will take place between April 8th, Friday of Sorrows, and April 17th, Easter Sunday.

Nieves Jiménez does not dare to guess the number of people that may participate in the most popular event of Semana Santa, the procession of the Holy Burial, next April 15th. “We have been three Good Fridays without going out, in 2019 because of bad weather conditions and in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, so I do not know how people will respond. I see that the brotherhoods are excited, but I do not dare to give figures,” she acknowledges. What she does say is that the procession, which will begin at 8pm in Dalt Vila, will follow “the same route as in previous years. It will start from the cathedral to continue along calles Joan Roman, Pere Tur, General Balanzat, sa Carrosa, Plaza de Vila, Portal de ses Taules and Aníbal street until reaching Vara de Rey. Vila’s seven brotherhoods will participate: Nuestro Padre Jesús Cautivo, Santo Cristo de la Agonía, Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, Nuestro Padre Jesús del Gran Poder, Santísimo Cristo del Cementerio, Santo Cristo Yacente and Nuestra Señora de la Piedad.

The first Semana Santa procession will take place on April 8th. The event will begin at 8pm with a mass in the cathedral, where the new throne of Our Lady of Sorrows will be blessed. Her confreres will then go in procession to the patio de Armas, where a Miserere will be sung. There they will meet with the brotherhood of the Santísimo Cristo del Cementerio, which, according to Jiménez, this Saturday, March 26th at 8pm will begin its 158th Novena with “a special act of thanksgiving for having protected us during the pandemic in the Pitiusas”.

On April 10th at 10am the additional blessing of Ramos will take place and the procession from the church of Santo Domingo to the cathedral, where there will be mass. At 11am the procession of ‘la Borriquita’ of the Santísimo Cristo del Cementerio will also leave from the parish of Sant Elm to Santo Domingo.

Semana Santa in Vila will close on April 17th with the procession of the Santa Encuentro. As is tradition, at 10am the processions will depart from the church of Santa Cruz with the image of the Resurrected Christ, and from Sant Elm with that of Our Lady of Hope, to meet at the Paseo de Vara de Rey. At 10:30am in the cathedral, in Dalt Vila, the Easter Sunday mass will be celebrated.

Semana Santa in Santa Eulària

In Santa Eulària Semana Santa will be inaugurated on April 8th with a mass at 8pm, and the procession from 8:30pm, from the chapel of Lourdes, of the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, which will be accompanied by the music band Nuestra Señora de la Estrella.

Another important event will take place on April 10th, Palm Sunday, with a procession at 10:30am from the chapel of Lourdes.

On April 15th, at 10am, the traditional Vía crucis viviente will take place, which will leave the market to reach Puig de Missa. The Good Friday procession will begin at 8pm.

The celebrations in the municipality will conclude on April 17th with the procession of the Holy Meeting, at 10:30am, and the mass at 11am at Puig de Missa.

Semana Santa on Formentera

The greatest novelty in the programming Formentera’s Semana Santa will be the presentation and blessing of the new throne of the brotherhood Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, built during the pandemic by its president, Romualdo Alcolea. It will take place on April 9th from 7:30pm after the Solemn Eucharist and the ‘besapiés’ in the church of Sant Ferran.

The most important religious events of Holy Week will take place between April 10th and 17th. Palm Sunday will be celebrated in the churches of Sant Francesc, Pilar de la Mola and Sant Ferran, from where the procession of the brotherhood Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno will depart in the afternoon of April 14th. It will be in this same church where on Easter Sunday the procession of the Holy Meeting will be celebrated after the Mass, scheduled at 11am.

For the full article and the Vila, Santa Eulària and Formentera Semana Santa programmes, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.

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