[vc_row rt_row_background_width=»fullwidth» rt_row_content_width=»default» rt_row_style=»default-style» rt_row_height=»» rt_row_borders=»» rt_row_shadows=»» rt_column_gaps=»» rt_row_paddings=»true» rt_bg_effect=»classic» rt_transparent_bg=»» rt_bg_image_repeat=»repeat» rt_bg_size=»cover» rt_bg_position=»right top» rt_bg_attachment=»scroll» rt_bg_video_format=»self-hosted»][vc_column rt_col_paddings=»true» rt_wrp_col_paddings=»false» rt_column_shadow=»» rt_border_top=»» rt_border_bottom=»» rt_border_left=»» rt_border_right=»» rt_border_top_mobile=»» rt_border_bottom_mobile=»» rt_border_left_mobile=»» rt_border_right_mobile=»» rt_bg_image_repeat=»repeat» rt_bg_size=»auto auto» rt_bg_position=»right top» rt_bg_attachment=»scroll»][vc_column_text]La Ciudad Monumental Cacereña es el escenario maravilloso donde estos días se represente la Pasión, Muerte y Resurrección de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, el hecho más trascendente de la historia de la humanidad; del que los cristianos conocen el final, un final enormemente feliz, el triunfo de la vida sobre la muerte, toda una lección de Paz y Esperanza para toda la Humanidad.
Brotherhoods have existed in Cáceres since the 15th century and the celebration of Holy Week has been commemorated for more than five centuries, as there is documented evidence of processions since 1609. These were processions with images that went around the monumental city of Cáceres praying in front of the tabernacles of the churches and chapels, singing the psalms of the Miserere.
Since 2011, Easter Week in Cáceres has been declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest, due to the value of the Cáceres Brotherhoods with a long tradition of faith and spirit of brotherhood that dates back to the 15th century, with an imagery heritage of incalculable artistic value, but the most unique aspect is the integration of the Monumental City with the celebration, as most of the processional routes run through the historic centre of Cáceres, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986.
Seventeen Brotherhoods, sixteen of them belonging to the Union of Penitential Brotherhoods of Cáceres, will stage twenty-three Processional Parades, with fifty-two Processions, of varied styles, periods, forms of carrying and clothing, and some fifteen thousand brothers and sisters who will stage the most beautiful principle of the Christian Faith: the Redemption brought to us by Christ.
Semana Santa Cacereña has adapted to the new times without losing its personality, in such a way that Cáceres can no longer be understood without its Semana Santa, nor Semana Santa Cacereña without the complicity and effort of all the Cáceres brotherhoods.
Easter Week in Cáceres and Tourism have become one of the main engines of the Cáceres economy and in these times of crisis they help to save jobs and improve the quality of life of the people of Cáceres.
Our Holy Week is distinguished by its solemn and traditional tone; and, in the human aspect, we must highlight the great participation of the brotherhoods, many children and young people who are beginning to live the spirit of the brotherhoods and who tell us that the future of the brotherhoods in Cáceres is guaranteed.
You have to love Cáceres for its stones, its gardens, its legends, its history, its customs, its wisdom, but Cáceres always loves your brother above all else, the man who lives in this two thousand year old city.
Let us live Holy Week with passion and faith, a celebration that the people of Cáceres, endowed with a very fine sensitivity and innate joy, turn into a celebration, knowing beforehand the end of the story, a story that ends well, with the triumph of life over death. Of a Christ who announces his Death to the world and at the same time proclaims his imminent Resurrection, a lesson of peace and hope for the whole of humanity.
In 2020, as a consequence of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic we are suffering, the traditional Easter processions in Cáceres will not take place.
Now it is our turn to stay at home and experience Holy Week in a more interior, spiritual and virtual way through the networks and audiovisual media.
But we must have courage and hope that this will be solved soon and that next year we will go out with our processional floats on the streets thanking Christ and his mother the Virgin Mary for having helped us to solve this tremendous crisis. We look forward to seeing you in 2021 in Cáceres to feel the Passion of Cáceres and enjoy the charms of our monumental World Heritage City.
Santos Benítez Floriano
President of the Unión de Cofradías Penitenciales de Cáceres (Union of Penitential Brotherhoods of Cáceres)
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