Holy Week in Braga

4 April | 9:30 pm | Exit of the Church of Santa Cruz

The Saturday night before Ramos is like a first Penitential Vigil, preparing for Holy Week, just as, on the following Saturday, the Easter Vigil will be the festive celebration of Jesus' triumph over death.

The procession in which the image of Senhor dos Passos is transferred starts at the Church of Santa Cruz and ends at the Church of the Seminary, covering Rua do Anjo, Largo de Santiago and Largo de S. Paulo.

Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/Xdev8PWFWM5zDr2K7

5 April | 11:00 am | Departure from the Seminary Church

Palm Sunday is the gateway to Holy Week. On this day the Church commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, to fulfill his paschal mystery. It is an entrance that prefigures and preludes its entrance, by the glorious Resurrection, in the Heavenly Jerusalem. Jesus, however, wanted to achieve triumph through Passion and Death.

The Day begins with the Blessing and Procession of the Branches.

In this Church, the Archbishop proceeds to the solemn blessing of the branches in the church of the Seminary. Then, the Procession of Ramos parades towards the Cathedral, crossing Rua D. Gonçalo Pereira.

Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/9gK8fDSb9jZNqYW56

5 April | 17h00 | Departure from the Seminary Church

Organized by the Brotherhood of Santa Cruz, the solemn Procession of Passos offers spectators, in allegorical pictures and dramatic staging, the same thing that, in the Missa de Ramos was read in the gospel of the Passion.

Next to the Church of San ta Cruz, the Sermon of the Meeting takes place and, in the course of this, the listeners attend the moving encounter of Jesus with his Sorrowful Mother, "the Lady of Sorrows".

Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/9gK8fDSb9jZNqYW56

Meeting Sermon: https://goo.gl/maps/au5HtMVQLjYyPrEF8

8 April | 9:30 pm | Departure from S. Victor Church

Also popularly known as the Procession of Nossa Senhora da "burrinha", it has been organized, since 1998, by the Parish and the Parish Council of S. Victor, this eloquent procession presents the prehistory of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus that the Church celebrates in the days following.

Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/JSeUvmaxXRV1nh2y5 

9 April | 9:30 pm | Departure from the Misericórdia Church

Organized since ancient times by the Brotherhood of Mercy, this procession evokes the judgment of Jesus, while celebrating the mercy he taught.

The exotic group of the farricocos opens with coarse penance clothes, barefoot and hooded, with ropes around their belts, as in the past public penitents, some wielding matracas and others raising fires (bowls with burning pine cones). Hence it is also called "Procession of Fograréus". As part of the procession, the stoves evoke the guards who, armed with torches, went to arrest Jesus at night.

Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/mPgvCK43HYm7H3ec6

10 April | 9:30 pm | Exit the Cathedral

This imposing procession - of all the most solemn and moving - leaves the Cathedral and takes the casket of the dead Lord through the streets of the City. It is preceded by a walker with a bare cross and followed by that of Senhora das Dores. Accompanied by those and other brotherhoods, knights of the Sovereign Orders of Malta and the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, Capitulars of the See, various corporations and authorities. As a sign of mourning, the Capitulars and members of the Confraternities go with their heads covered. To show their pain, the allegorical figures sport a mourning veil, crawling across the floor.

Starting point: https://goo.gl/maps/VDvsW8xjxuwqP7gH6

Map of the processions mentioned above.

Source: semanaantabraga.com