Solemnities of Holy Week

The solemnities of Holy Week are the highlight of the religious festivities in the city of Braga. Considered the most solemn in the country and one of the most significant in the entire Christian world, Braga's Holy Week is synonymous with faith, devotion and respect, evoking Christian tradition in every procession, day or night, during the Easter season.
Painting the city in shades of purple, Holy Week is the time that brings the most visitors to Braga, in search of the majestic processions, some of which are marked by the silence of those watching the heavy march of the farricocos (a traditional figure in this season). The Biblical Procession You Will Be My People, commonly known as the Procession of the Donkey, the Procession of the Lord Ecce Homo and the Procession of the Burial of the Lord, which takes place on Good Friday and marks the end of the cycle of processions, are the most striking moments of these solemnities. What are the farricocos?
Considered to be disturbing figures, dressed entirely in black, with a tunic ("balandraus") tied with a rope and a hood that is also black and tied with a rope, the farricocos are one of the protagonists of Holy Week in Braga.

With only two openings in the eye area, the black tunics are accompanied by bare feet, as a sign of penance - inspired by the Old Testament - and allowing for anonymity.
The highlight of the Ecce Homo procession on Holy Thursday, the farricocos roam the streets of the city, making their nunchakus or "rouge-ruge", a kind of wooden noise-making machine mounted on top of black sticks. By spinning them, the farricocos capture people's attention. The fogaréus, carried by farricocos who don't have nunchucks, are also part of this procession, calling "public sinners" to the "endoença" or forgiveness of the Church. The fogaréus are metal bowls raised on tall black sticks and containing burning pine cones.
In the Procession of the Burial of the Lord, on Good Friday, the farricocos are also present, opening the procession, but in silence and dragging their nunchucks and unlit fires along the ground.