FOR hundreds of years Passion plays have been performed over the Easter weekend throughout the Christian world – and Tenerife is no exception.
Foremost among them in the south of Tenerife is the street extravaganza in Adeje which every year attracts thousands of residents and holidaymakers to watch a realistic re-enactment of the days leading up to Christ’s crucifixion.
Every year more than 300 amateur actors bring the last hours of Jesus Christ to life in the streets of Adeje in a passion play and progress of the Cross usually carried live by Televisión Canaria. The event takes place on Good Friday in Adeje’s Calle Grande, from midday.
The Adeje tradition grew from humble beginnings 14 years ago into a spectacular media event that is a must on the calendar of the island’s newspaper and television teams.
Preparations for the event begin months in advance as volunteers work feverishly behind the scenes to ready costumes and rehearse the scenes to be played out in the streets of of the town.
Some work behind the scenes, taking care of the sound and lighting while hundreds of others play parts in the drama, as Roman soldiers, citizenry, the Apostles or Jesus’s followers.
From Jesus’s ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane to the agony of the Crucifixion, the thousands lining the streets and the huge television audience are transfixed by the emotional spectacle that takes over the town from noon.
Have Your Say