Calvary

Easter, more specifically the Passion of Christ ritual, is intensely lived in Arouca, The Procissão dos Fogaréus (Bonfire Procession), happening on the Wednesday evening before Easter, allows the Gospel reading, in which Christ has climbed the Calvary to be crucified. And it is precisely that final part of the path that this local represents, with its pulpit, shrines and stone crosses, from the 17th and 18th centuries. The small granitic hill translates the harshness of the ritual. The simplicity of the shapes is interrogative. The way the elements organize is balanced. And, after the climb up here, the silence and the landscape are inviting.