La Judea

One of the most important traditions maintained in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville), thanks to the Brotherhood of Jesus Nazareno, is La Judea. In fact, Holy Week in Alcalá was recently declared a Tourist Asset of National Interest by Public Institutions, largely thanks to "the Jews", as they are colloquially known, since it is the only place where it still remains.

It is about a group of brothers who, dressed as soldiers and including three Jews dressed in the style of the time (with a drum, a flute and a flag), go out on Holy Thursday morning, touring the streets of Alcalá "in search" of Jesus of Alcalá, as the people affectionately call him.

Later, in the early morning, which is when this brotherhood performs its penance station, they are part of the brotherhood opening the procession, until "the light of day" arrives, which is when they wait for you next to the bridge to turn it on and escort you up to San Roque, where the scenes that occurred on Mount Calvario will be relived.

The origin of this group must be sought in the origins of the Nazarene brotherhoods; when these were created, the procession was above all the staging of the passionate mysteries. It was about reconstructing with the greatest possible realism and intensity the dramatic scenes that Jesus suffered during his Passion and for this reason groups of Romans and Jews are organized to be incorporated into the representation of the Passion in order to increase realism. In Alcalá they paraded, played the drum, exhibited the sentence, waved the flag as a mockery,...

Formerly this group of Jews, with the general name of armaos, was made up of a group of humble people, who were paid by the Brotherhood. But since 1992, it is made up of a group of brothers, since at the end of the 80s there were enough problems to recruit those who were always in charge of these Lenten tasks.

Thanks to the tenacity of the Brotherhood of Jesus and these brothers that make up Judea, who have not let the Jews go down in history, you can still enjoy a day that shines brighter than the sun and during a magical early morning of a centuries-old rite .