The mayor of Los Realejos, Adolfo González, and the Councilor for Historical Heritage, Isabel Socorro, together with the local photographer Isidro Felipe Acosta, presented their exhibition ‘The Other Holy Week’, a photographic journey through their presence in these religious celebrations in 33 Spanish cities, with 56 snapshots, which opens this Friday, March 24 at 8:00 p.m. at the Los Realejos Municipal House of Culture and can be visited until April 10, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
“We are aware of the authentic passion that Isidro Felipe puts into the world of photography in general, especially everything that concerns ethnographic elements and cultural heritage, as obviously is the commemoration of Holy Week in so many places in the world, where many corners of Spain, such as our own municipality, have singular moments worthy of being known inside and outside its geographical limits, and in that photography helps a lot, proof of this is the history that is discovered through each of these almost 60 images that make up the exhibition”, highlights Adolfo González.
For the Councilor for Historical Heritage, “this exhibition is an opportunity, within the acts of our royal Holy Week and the seclusion typical of these dates, to find different windows that lead us to discover different interpretations of this religious celebration in other Spanish cities , something that, without the restlessness and patience of Isidro Felipe Acosta, a realejero who for a decade has kicked the country in those days, we would not have been able to contemplate”.
Carried out after 10 years touring Castilla y León, Extremadura, Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha and the Canary Islands, the author intends to bring us closer to everything that surrounds this ancient Catholic celebration, “a social event that for any photographer who loves traditions, is a an immense challenge”, according to the author himself, who stresses that “being able to delve into and share the feelings and actions of the people who celebrate them has been the best part of this unique experience”.
Isidro Felipe Acostas points out that “Holy Week, the other, the one that is celebrated in those lost towns of our geography, in which it seems that time has not passed, was the objective set, although over the years I turned in portraying those of World Heritage cities, whose processional parades passed through their historic quarters; The intention was to be able to immortalize everything lived in the streets but also what was cooked inside the temples before and after the processions”.
Apart from the traditional parades, the author highlights other figures that make a difference such as the Jewish gangs from Baena, “some characters that surprise with the beauty and plasticity of their embroidered red cloth jackets, the shine of their helmets with colorful feather dusters, those that hang the tail that divides them into mobs, the black-tailed and the white-tailed”. Its originality is so great, emphasizes Isidro Felipe, “that if it were not for the steps, one would forget that one is witnessing some of the most dramatic moments of Holy Week.”
“Likewise, the Biblical Corporations of the Cordovan city of Puente Genil also draw attention, where since the mid-seventeenth century more than 400 figures representing Biblical characters from the Old and New Testaments dressed in colorful clothes and covering their faces with some papier-mâché rostrillos”.
Two other differentiating elements are found in two ancestral celebrations of Holy Week, the “armed” of Sigüenza, who parade with steel cuirass, helmet and pikes, imitating a kind of soldiery of the Flanders tercios, and the “Felipecuartos” , from the Soria city of Áqreda, brothers belonging to the Brotherhood of the Vera Cruz, who, dressed in clothing in the prevailing fashion in the Spain of that king, carry banners with portraits of the 12 apostles and are accompanied by the “alumbrantes ” children dressed in costumes inspired by the brothers.
Isidro Felipe Acosta points out that the Passion of Zamora is the one that caused him the greatest impact of the 33 cities visited, and in fact it is the only one that he visited twice, taking more than 11,000 images on the first one. “Being able to photograph the oath of silence before the Cristo de las Injurias from the roof of the Cathedral, or listen to the song ‘0h, Jerusalem!’ in the Plaza de Santa Lucía they were difficult moments to forget ”, he points out.
The author of the exhibition has spent 33 years as Information Relations manager of the Los Realejos City Council, previously being a correspondent for the Gaceta de Canarias and a contributor to the newspapers El Día and Diario de Avisos. He is also the author of the photographic books ‘Traditional Festivals in the North of Tenerife’ and ‘Los Realejos and their traditional festivals’.
