Processó de Verges | Cultural Heritage. Goverment of Catalonia.
Processó de Verges Skeletons dancing in the street

The Christian tradition of the Passion becomes street theatre in this town in Baix Empordà. The Processó de Verges (the Procession of Verges) has more than 300 years of history and is held every Maundy Thursday.

The mystery that it represents is based on a book of verses by Friar Antoni de Sant Jeroni from 1773 that deal with the drama of the last hours of Jesus Christ. The dramatisation of the procession allowed for the ecclesiastical Latin language barrier to be broken and facilitated indoctrination through a common language.

The procession starts from the church at 12 noon. During the tour, the streets of the village, with just the light of the torches, bring to life the scenes of the Passion. Everyone awaits the moment when the "Dansa de la Mort" (Dance of Death) is performed. In this macabre representation with medieval origins, five skeletons organised in the shape of a cross prance and dance to the sound of drums.

Verges is the only town in Catalonia that continues this staging, and for this reason the Processó de Verges was declared a Traditional Festival of National Interest in 1983.

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Heritage stories

The dance of death

Four skeletons dance to the sound of a drum, creating one of the most solemn and unsettling moments of the procession.