Everything is prepared in the nine towns of Bajo Aragón that are part of the Drum and Bombo Route, with more than 50 years of history, to celebrate the most anticipated moment of their Holy Week: the ‘Rompida de la Hora’, moment in which hundreds of residents thunder their squares and streets with the unison beating of their percussion instruments.
The most famous of all is Calanda, thanks in large part to the role played by filmmaker Luis Buñuel, which attracts thousands of tourists from different parts of the community and the country.
Unlike the other towns, which ‘break the hour’ at midnight on Holy Thursday, their neighbors will do so at noon on Good Friday. Like every year, the first hit on the big drum will be a figure related to the world of cinema. If last year the ‘official breaker’ was Eulalia Ramón, widow of Carlos Saura, the task falls this year on the figure of the Aragonese director Ignacio García Velilla, author of films such as Fuera de carta, Que se mueran los feos or Mañana es hoy .
He will be accompanied by an institutional figure (this year it will be Joaquín Juste, president of the Teruel Provincial Council) and a representative of a town brotherhood (Joaquín Barberán, from the El Encuentro brotherhood).
The event has a very special meaning for the Calandinos, both on a personal and family level as well as economically, with tourist accommodation and restaurant venues packed to the brim thanks to the massive influx of curious onlookers.
Another point of interest is in the town of Híjar, whose Holy Week boasts of being a Festival of National Tourist Interest since 1996 thanks to one of the most impressive ‘rompidas’ in the area.
There, at midnight, the mayor of the town will raise his staff of command in the middle of the town square, a gesture that will unleash the roar of hundreds of drums and drums that fill the venue. This year, the celebration will also have the presence of the President of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón.
Not far away, in the town of Andorra, they will ‘break the hour’ after the first call of the bugle and, later, the bass drum. Along with the mayor, the presence of the Minister of Education and Government spokesperson, Pilar Alegría from Zaragoza, is expected on the town hall balcony.
Similar images, although with some small local variation, will be recorded in the towns of Albalate del Arzobispo, Urrea de Gaén, La Puebla de Híjar or Alcorisa. In contrast to all of them, the town of Alcañiz, known for hosting the Motorland automobile circuit, will remain silent in one of the most emotional processions that take place in the area.
