Symbolic flower offering to Jesús Nazareno
After a year of absence in which the revered image could not be brought down, this year residents were able to visit the church of San Bartolomé to deliver their flowers in a unique offering.
PHOTO CREDIT: Álvaro Monfort Torres
Monday 3rd May 2021 – ÁLVARO MONFORT with Mike Smith
Jesus of Nazareth has received his offering of flowers. Not in the usual circumstances or with the usual fun and turnout, but in an intimate and very emotional way.
After a year of absence in which the revered image could not be brought down from the chapel of El Calvari due to confinement, this year it was carried down to the village and residents were able to visit the church of San Bartolomé to deliver their flowers in a unique offering in which the masks, the hydroalcoholic gel and small groups have been the great protagonists.
The Brotherhood of Jesús Nazareno scheduled a “voluntary and staggered” offering. And so it was. With a schedule operating from 4.00pm until 6.30pm to avoid congestion, all those people in the municipality who wished to do so, took part in this special event which sought to maximize security measures. Indeed, the sporadic nature of the participation made it possible for some residents to attend who, under normal circumstances, would not have joined in, having had to have taken part in a parade before hand.
The Colla del Portitxol enlivened the proceedings by playing their drums and dolçaines. Attendees gathered in the Plaça de l’Església wearing their masks and have progressively entered the church under the direction of the members of the brotherhood. Arriving in front of the image, there was the usual delivery of flowers and that special face-to-face experience that always involves the encounter with the Nazarene. The entrance and exit was made by different doorways.
The event also did not want to miss some of the fiesta committees of the municipality that, in a gesture of brotherhood, joined this initiative, either represented by a few members of their respective commissions or headed by their current fiesta officials. It has been the case of the Commission of Fogueres, some of the representatives of Sant Joan of 2019, the Commission of Fiestas Mare de Déu de Loreto with the Mayorales 2019 at the top, the Board of Fiestas of Moors and Christians with its standard bearers and Captain , the Santa Llúcia Fiesta Commission and the San Sebastián Commission.
The flower offering held in Xàbia opens a new way for the safe organization of these type of events so ingrained in the current health emergency.
Click here to see more photos on the Facebook page of Xàbia AL DÍA
