Afternoon

The events of Holy Thursday afternoon begin at 4:30 in the parish church, where the liturgical celebration of this day takes place: the Solemn Office. This solemn service is related to the ancient office of Fasos (suppressed by the Second Vatican Council) and the wake in churches. This collective reverence before the altar. This reverence, which recalls the ancient wake of the Sepulchre, is currently the first act of the Vergelitan celebration.

Around 5 p.m., the Manages depart. The procession, made up of about eighty members, sets out in formation and, to the strident rhythm of timpani and trumpets, marches through various streets of the town, beginning at the Placeta del 1 de Octubre, where the most spectacular display takes place. There, the Roman soldiers perform a series of showy dances: the so-called "sardanas," crosses, and other figures of great artistic beauty and harmony.

 

Les Manages

The Cadre of Manages - a cohort of armed Roman soldiers, who in Verges, exceptionally, are known by the feminine noun "manages" - is made up of 6 drummers, 2 bass drummers, 6 trumpeters, and 48 manages, with 6 captains, 2 small standard-bearers, 2 standard-bearers with the initials SPQR.
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The images

The image of Our Lady of Sorrows in the Verges Procession stands out for one unique detail: it is the only one carried exclusively by girls, without any wheels. Unlike the other images, which have supports for easy transport, Our Lady of Sorrows is carried entirely by weight, which gives it a more solemn character.

The uniform

The Manages currently wear a 1st-century Roman legionary uniform, based on historical knowledge of this type of military attire, which replaced the traditional attire that characterized representations of Roman soldiers in Catalonia in the late 1950s.

The formations

At the mentioned time they go out in formation and carry out a parade through different streets, also performing the figures called sardanas, crosses and others, in a row of 2 or 4 depending on the streets they pass through and whether they go in a long step - which is used for the parade and exhibitions - or a shorter one - processional.

La sardana

The Verges manages have achieved a high degree of perfection in their performance. In addition to the artistic beauty of the figures they perform at various points (the sardana and the aforementioned crosses), we must add the air of martial spirit they are able to reproduce, with their serious faces, the sonority of the drums and trumpets, the synchronized movements, and the brilliance of the shields and shields (when they take the short step).
 

Next, the Manages begin a tour of the town's streets. They go to "collect" the different pasos or mysteries, images placed in different parts of the town and which have been prepared, cleaned, and decorated with flowers by the residents with discreet exuberance. They accompany them to the church where they will remain on display until nightfall, when they will become part of the procession. Currently, the mysteries they are going to collect are: the Assotament, popularly known as "Pistolets," the Nazareno, the Dolorosa, and the Piedad. This procession and collection of mysteries lasts about two hours—from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM—and is the prelude to the formal start of the procession, which will take place at midnight.