Spain marks Good Friday with ancestral rites

San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Spain, Apr 15 (EFE).- Cities across Spain marked Good Friday with traditional celebrations.

In San Vicente de la Sonsierra, a village in Spain’s Rioja region, crowds gathered to participate in the traditional Way of the Cross procession in which six “picaos” – disciplinarians – whipped themselves on the back along the path.

The “picaos” walked barefoot for over three kilometers to complete their penance in an ancestral rite that dates back to the sixteenth century.

It had been two years since the religious celebration had taken place due to the coronavirus pandemic. EFE

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