Everywhere in Sardinia the rites of Holy Week have lived with strong mysticism, although the more evocative and spectacular celebrations are definitely those of Iglesias that go back to end of the 17th century and evoke evocative atmospheres related to Spanish culture and tradition. Through a powerful collective ritual full of Religious, mysticism and tradition that will intrigue you for obvious Iberian references and will fascinate you for the devout spirituality of the population.
The events, which last a whole week, begin the Tuesday with the procession of Mysteries: seven simulacrums, symbol of the Passion of Christ, are transported in procession through the city streets. An adorned door of flowers and olive leafs incedes through the iglesient streets, reminiscent of the Garden of Gethsemane. Then the statues depicting Jesus imprisoned, Christ scourged, crowned with thorns, on the way to Calvary, crucified, and finally the simulacrum of Our Lady of Sorrows.
Right after sunset, the Thursday, Iglesias fills with Baballottis, young faithful who accompany the simulacrum of Our Lady of Sorrows in the seven churches where the Sepulchre is set up, to the sound of the drums and the matraccas (traditional musical instrument made up of a wooden table on which nails and hinges of iron rings with the function of batacchi), where the re-enactment of the Last Supper is celebrated, with the traditional lavender of the feet to the apostles and the display of the vases of "on neurons"with wheat sprouts grown in the dark.
The Friday evening there is the solemn procession that recalls the funeral of Jesus Christ, characterized by a great deal of actors and religious symbols among which a sculpture of the dead-sized Christ, dating back to the seventeenth century, women wearing black tunics and the Germans of the Brotherhood of the Holy Mountain, organizers of the event, who wear a long white tunic and voluminous cappucci.
In the day of Saturday, the Church of San Michele remains open until late to allow the faithful to worship the dead Christ.
Easter is the most important festival of the year of the city and the whole Province. The Sunday morning the bells ring at feast and the image of the Risen Christ makes his triumphal entrance into the cathedral. In the city there are two processions, one that accompanies the Risen Christ, the other that follows the Madonna: the tradition wants that, after having traveled different itineraries, take place On the Inconstruct, the moving moment of the encounter between the two processions that continue together towards the cathedral where the Bishop waits for the solemn blessing. In this circumstance, the faithful offer to the Confreres – placing them in the staves of the gates of the statues – the "coconut de Pasca", a typical bread of the local gastronomic tradition.
The evening Tuesday after EasterAfter the Capitol Mass in the cathedral, the procession of "S'Inserru" takes place, a unique procession that separates the simulacrums of the Risen Jesus and the Madonna, accompanied respectively in the church of St. Francis and in the church of St. Joseph. The Mass of Voting, established in 1735, puts an end to the evocative rites of the Holy Week in Iglesias.
