Even with the rain, the traditional Farricocos took to the streets of Braga, this Thursday morning, sounding their rattles, as part of the Holy Week celebrations.
Farricoco is one of the emblematic figures of the Holy Week celebration in Braga.
According to the organization’s website, in its pagan origins, the Farricocos were a group of masked people who roamed the streets, announcing the passage of convicts and reporting their crimes. .
Already ‘Christianized’, in ancient times, according to the mentality of the time, they roamed the streets calling on public sinners to be reintegrated into the Church, after they had repented and been forgiven. It was the way of the time, of understanding mercy towards sinners, to whom indulgence (or ‘indulgence’) had been applied.
Currently, it is given a substitutive and residual meaning, calling the Brothers of Mercy to the night procession. The use of noisy ‘ratcas’ for this purpose was instituted in ancient years to replace the ringing of bells, which on the biggest days of Holy Week were silent.
The Farricocos stand out in the Procession of the Lord “Ecce Homo” which, as O MINHO reported, was going to take to the streets this Thursday, but was canceled due to bad weather.
