In the town hall square of
Cabanillas, a village near Tudela, a very peculiar ceremony is enacted on
Easter Sunday. At 13:00, following the 'Procesión del Encuentro' in which a girl dressed as an angel tells the Virgin Mary the good news, the "Capture of Judas" takes place.
This event also takes place elsewhere, but Cabanillas gives it a special flavour. The characters are real. Since the
19th century the young people of the village dress up as Romans and pursue Judas to lynch him. Judas, who wears a red and silver garment and a mesh over his head, has to run and hide among the crowd that rebuke him. He also enters houses and steals food, and even jumps from balconies.
The frenetic pursuit takes place before the eyes of the spectators present. The Romans take about fifteen minutes to catch Judas and then decapitate him as a just punishment for his betrayal.
Aviso
