Holy Wednesday is the eve of the Procession’s big day in Verges. After days of rehearsal, there is still time to refine gestures, lines and the coordination between groups. Tomorrow will bring a different audience and a different feeling; tonight, everyone is still among familiar faces.
The local memories of rehearsals and preparations below are mainly based on Serrà’s description of 1996. They are not the current programme; arrangements must be confirmed for each edition.
What does Holy Wednesday commemorate?
In the Catholic liturgy, the day’s Gospel recalls Judas agreeing with the chief priests to hand Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14–25). In Verges, this episode is staged in the scene of the Sanhedrin, or the Betrayal of Jesus.
Holy Wednesday is still part of Lent. The Easter Triduum begins on Maundy Thursday evening with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The celebration of the Resurrection opens with the Easter Vigil, on the night between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. These are distinct stages of the same journey.
The final rehearsals in Verges
Serrà describes the Dance of Death moving away along the rec del Molí while the manages marched noisily up the carrer Major. This left the Placeta free to rehearse the falls and the Crucifixion. Sharing the spaces allowed each group to work without interrupting the others; the precise arrangements may change from year to year.
Serrà also describes the cold of that evening and the participants’ growing concentration. The next day, they would perform before an audience that was no longer so familiar.
Between each line and movement, everyone tried to be in the right place at the right time. Rehearsals made this shared work of coordination visible.
Anticipation grew that evening. Work remained, but there was also a need to find time to rest before Maundy Thursday.
Following the week
Continue with the day-by-day Holy Week guide and check the programme for each edition. For Mass times, consult the parish announcements rather than relying on schedules from previous years.
The change of Veronica’s performer observed in 1996
In her account of Holy Week in 1996, Màriam Serrà describes a final rehearsal in the Placeta and the allocation of spaces so that groups did not disrupt each other. That evening, she pays particular attention to the change of the actress playing Veronica.
The previous performer follows the new participant’s acting, mouthing the words and making small gestures of approval. Serrà does not name these women. The episode illustrates a form of support and transmission, without establishing that every role changed hands this way or that the timetable of that year still applies today.
Sources for this addition
Màriam Serrà, Verges i la processó que no es veu (1998), pp. 80–81. Account of Holy Week in 1996.
