Easter Week celebrations in the city of Híjar centre on tamborradas (drum processions).
The main feature of Easter Week here is the sound of drums, known as the “tamborrada”, as well as in other places in southern Aragon on the Drum Route. The festival starts at midnight on Maundy Thursday with the “rompida” or the start of the drumming with a signal from the Mayor. The drums beat throughout the night, stopping only at two in the morning for a procession known as the rosarieros (the rosary-sayers) or the despertadores (alarm clocks), which visits fourteen places corresponding to the Stations of the Cross, intoning ancient hymns. When this has finished, the drums start up again.
