Las Meigas and the procession of the Santísimo Cristo del Consuelo

As has already been pointed out on a previous occasion, it was in 1994, when we celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the proclamation of the First Meiga Mayor (1970), the Promoting Commission was the moment in which steps were taken to join one of the Confraternities that procession in the Coruña Holy Week, in full resurgence in those years.
These efforts bore fruit, establishing ties with the Brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad and the Santo Entierro, based in the Church of the Venerable Third Order so that the older Meigas accompany, in their passage through the streets of Coruña, the image of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, head of the aforementioned Brotherhood, in its processional exit on Holy Saturday.
After the negotiations were completed, from that year on, the Meiga Mayor accompanied by the Meigas de Honor, wearing the traditional Spanish Mantilla, joined this procession of deep roots in our city and that traditionally brings together a significant number of women who accompany the image of the Virgin in mourning.
In 2011, the Brotherhood, at the request of the Minister of the Third Order, Salvador Peña, distinguished the Promoting Commission by naming it Brotherhood of Honor and assigning it annually as the titular procession that of the Holy Christ of Consuelo, known as “the Christ of the Creeds. “, which processions on the day of Holy Wednesday and whose image, of great devotion in our city, is escorted by members of the National Police Corps, Cofrade de Honor also of the aforementioned Brotherhood.
As a result of this distinction, the Board of Directors of the Commission agreed to incorporate the Children’s Meiga Mayor and the Children’s Meigas de Honor into the processional parades of Holy Week, all of them wearing the Regional Costume of Galicia adorned with a cap or mantilla; In the same way, it was decided to invite to the procession of the Cristo del Consuelo to Meigas Mayores, Meigas Mayores Infantiles, Meigas de Honor honoríficas, Meigas de Honor and Meigas de Honor Infantiles from other editions, understanding that it is the official procession to which The Promoting Commission assists, which joins its Board of Directors in full.
Throughout the first years, this processional parade made a penance station through the silent streets of the Old City of Coruña, on the night of the aforementioned Holy Wednesday, which gave it great intimacy and retreat, contributing to this the dim lighting of the quiet and narrow streets of the old part of the city.
Subsequently, the organizing Brotherhood made the decision to establish its departure late in the afternoon on Wednesday, as it does today.
The procession, in which the aforementioned “Cristo de los Credos” appears as the only step, has moments of great plasticity and recollection, as happens in its passage through the Plaza de la Constitución, at the foot of the 18th-century Palace of the General Captaincy, where it is sung a motet in honor of the image of the crucified Christ.
The procession does not leave the streets of the Upper City, arriving with its route until the beginning of the Plaza de María Pita and returning to the temple. In its course it runs through streets whose names evoke other moments in the history of A Coruña -Carlos I, San Francisco, Santo Domingo, Santa María, Sinagoga, Príncipe, Constitución, Parrote, Tabernas, Santiago, Angeles, Damas, Azcárraga, Zapatería … -, allowing us by the magic of this part of La Coruña to go back in time.
With the cessation of the activity of the Promoting Commission, the Association of Meigas assumed this collaboration as its own, with the plenary session of its Board of Directors attending the aforementioned procession of the Santísimo Cristo del Buen Consuelo on the afternoon of Holy Wednesday and inviting the older Meigas and children to join the rest of the processions.
José Eugenio Fernández Barallobre.