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THE RITES
On the evening of Good Friday, the first procession starts from the church of San Francesco. The chanting congregation passes through the streets of the city center. It is also called de las dames, because the simulacrum of the Madonna is accompanied by many women dressed in black. The Mater Dolorosa, (Our Lady of Sorrow) is also draped in black.
On the night of the Thursday before Esater, after visiting different sepulchres (las cerques), the seventeenth-century statue of Christ is carried from the church of Misericordia to the Cathedral, where the The Alburament Rite takes place. It consists of raising the statue in the center of the altar. The members of the Confraternity keep vigil over the statue all night.
On the afternoon of Good Friday, the missa fugi-fugi (mass) is celebrated at the Cathedral. The liturgy is taken from the funeral mass and is read in honor of the sad death of Jesus. In the evening, the desclavament celebration takes place. Four varons (barons) dressed in Eastern style, take Christ down from the cross and lay Him in the bressol, which is a beautiful coffin, decorated in pure gold, in Baroque style. In this coffin, which is covered by a very light veil, San Christus is carried through the streets of the city which by this time are cloaked in the dark of night. The dark and narrow back streets resound to the ancient songs in Catalan of the tenores (tenors).