Good Friday commemorates the Passion and death of Jesus on the cross. It is part of the Easter Triduum, which begins on Maundy Thursday evening and reaches its high point in the celebration of the Resurrection. In Verges, morning follows a night of long hours of work and emotion.
The local account of clearing up below is mainly based on Serrà’s description of 1996. It explains that edition, rather than an unchanging allocation of tasks.
The village after the great night
Walking through Verges, the contrast with Maundy Thursday night can make it feel like a ghost village. After the crowds, drums and spoken verse, many participants take the chance to rest. The streets gradually return to their usual rhythm.
But not everyone is asleep. Cleaning the public spaces and clearing up are also part of the celebration. Local memories include early-rising grandmothers who, even after the cleaning services had passed, swept their stretch of street again and washed it down with water.
There is also work for those who look after the misteris, the Procession’s religious statues: removing flowers, cleaning the statues and returning them to where they are kept. It is less visible than decorating them, but just as necessary. The Procession does not end when the last spectator leaves.
The religious meaning of Good Friday
In the Catholic liturgy, Mass is not celebrated on this day. The celebration of the Passion includes the Gospel account, prayer, the adoration of the cross and Communion with hosts consecrated beforehand. The absence of Mass does not mean that there is no religious service.
Other observances accompany the day in many communities. The meaning of the day should be distinguished from each parish’s programme: services and times are not the same everywhere.
Customs and memories
Good Friday has been associated with mourning and folk customs that varied by place and period. The previous text included a prohibition on sweeping, a belief that contrasts with the specific memory of cleaning the streets in Verges. These are traditions and memories, not current rules or practices necessarily followed by everyone.
In the village, the day shows the other side of the great night: rest and the small tasks that put everything back in its place. The next day, the Children’s Procession on Holy Saturday will bring the streets to life again.
Continuing through the week
Use the day-by-day Holy Week guide to follow the sequence through to Easter Sunday. Religious service times should be checked with the parish or the Diocese of Girona.
Returning the statues and sharing the flowers
On pages 137–138 of her book, Serrà describes Good Friday in 1996: those responsible for the statues and the priest returned them to their altars and replaced benches moved for the Dance’s bow. Preparations for the night had transformed the space; the next morning it also needed to be restored.
After cleaning the church, the people working there shared the flowers to take home or to the cemetery. This detail explains a particular use of the decorations in that edition, without establishing a current rule or an obligation for everyone helping with the clearing up today.
Sources for this addition
Màriam Serrà, Verges i la processó que no es veu (1998), pp. 137–138. Account of Holy Week in 1996.
