We have become accustomed to talk about Mexican Catrinas and Halloween nights as if we were born in North America, but sometimes we forget that very close to us there are also traditions that drink from the deepest paganism and honor death and darkness.
We are talking, in this case, about the Dance of Death in Verges, a small village in the Baix Empordà, in Girona, where time seems to have stopped and where one of the most curious traditions of Easter in Catalonia is celebrated and which has been a traditional festival of national interest since 1983.
The Dance of Death that has been danced for 300 years.
In Verges, Easter is not only a religious event: it is a spectacle that transforms the village into a medieval stage. At night the streets are illuminated with torches and oil lamps made from snail shells.
It does so to host one of the oldest traditions in Catalonia, the Procession of the Passion of Christ and the Dance of Death, a tradition with more than 300 years of history.
The dance is celebrated on the night of Maundy Thursday. On that day, at midnight, five dancers dressed as skeletons walk through the streets to the rhythm of a sepulchral drum, carrying scythes, watches and ashes. In the streets the silence is absolute and the public watches mute and respectful a hypnotic, symbolic and, above all, unique dance in Catalonia.
A dance dedicated to the Black Death
The Dance of Death of Verges dates from the seventeenth century but there are scholars who place it even in the twelfth century. Be that as it may , its origin is, like many other similar dances in Europe, in the epidemic of black plague that ravaged the continent in the Middle Ages, which emerged as a rite to ward off the death that spread unchecked (one third of the European population died of plague) without distinguishing origins or classes.
That is why each object and member of the dance has its symbolism. uring the dance, the five dancers dressed as skeletons (three children and two adults) dance to the sound of a drum, accompanied by other skeletons carrying torches, in a choreography loaded with symbolism. Each character carries an object: a scythe with the Latin inscription “Nemini Parco” (“I spare no one”), a flag that reads “Lo temps es breu” (“Time is short”), two bowls with ashes and a clock without hands, reminding that death can come at any time and to any person.
When is the Dance of Death of Verges?
This year, the date is Thursday, April 17, and the performance starts at 22:00. There is the option to watch the Dance of Death from the central square, but for that you have to book tickets on the official website and, unfortunately, they are already sold out.
But don’t worry, because the procession is free and the streets are open to the public, although it is recommended to arrive in good time as the town is usually full.
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