Holy Week baroque composers were usually intended for performance during the evening of Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. In the Orthodox Church, the forty days of Great Lent end on the Friday before Palm Sunday. The two days that follow, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, form a transition to Holy Week, neither in Lent nor in Holy Week themselves, but in combination with Holy Week containing the continuing observances in preparation for Pascha (Easter), during which the faithful continue to fast. Lazarus Saturday commemorates Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead, just before he went to Jerusalem himself. The main
Holy Week in Braga flames. Some “farricocos” accompany nearby the “fogaréus” with baskets of pine cones to go renewing the fire. As a whole, they are exotic and impressive figures, which became, for many people, a species of ex-libris of the Holy Week of Braga. See its brief description before. It is a very rooted custom in the North of Portugal, on Easter Sunday. A group of people (“Compasso”), whenever possible chaired by a priest, with festive costumes, departing from their parish church with a decked cross go to visit Christian families to announce the Christ resurrection and to bless their homes. Ring the