Easter holidays in a holiday home in Banyoles (Girona)

These are some of the festivals and activities in Girona that you can visit during Easter from our holiday home:

• The Procession of Sorrows – Banyoles (1 km. from the holiday home)

On the Friday before Palm Sunday, in Banyoles, the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows has been celebrated since the 18th century. In the evening of this day, the solemn Procession of Sorrows takes place that accompanies the images of the Pietà, that of Saint Christ and that of the Fourth Sorrow of the Crown of Seven Sorrows, and which is headed by the Manípul of Manaies.

• Dance of Death – Verges (25 km. from the holiday home)

On Maundy Thursday the Dance of Death is celebrated in Verges. It is a festival declared to be of national interest and constitutes, indisputably, the most emblematic element of the Procession of Virgins. It is a true treasure, a unique gem of popular culture that, although it has reached us in a configuration that is clearly indebted to baroque aesthetics and iconography, sinks its first roots in the medieval centuries when, above all from the Black Death (1347-48), the theme of death took a leading role in many areas, such as literature, music, painting or religion. In the Dance of the Death of Virgins, some anthropological, symbolic and historical elements survive, which, in fact, are part of the cultural heritage of all of Europe.

• Staged Stations of the Cross - Porqueres (5 minutes' walk from the holiday home)

On Good Friday, the Way of the Cross is celebrated in Porqueres. The Way of the Cross is a Catholic devotional practice that recalls the moments in the life of Jesus of Nazareth from the time he was taken prisoner until his crucifixion and burial and Porqueres dramatizes it.

Red candles can be bought to accompany Jesus' way of the cross and then left at the foot of the cross once it is over.

• Ball del Cornut and Plantada de l’Arbre – Cornellà del Terri (2 km. from the holiday homse)

On Easter Monday, the cuckold dance and the planting of the May tree are celebrated. It is a party declared of national interest since 1999 and is a traditional Catalan dance, which comes from time immemorial, is danced at the Tree Festival. It consists of a round dance around a very tall tree with horns that has been planted in the middle of the square.

A dancer playing Horned (he wears two monumental horns on his head) jumps all around inside and outside the circle formed by the six dancing couples. After the dance, he takes a dancer by the hand and, breaking the circle, they dance around the square until they leave.