Malaga (EFE).- Thousands of people have attended this Thursday the landing in the port of Malaga of the company of honors of the third Duke of Alba II of the Legion, based in Ceuta, and the transfer of the Christ of the Good Death and Animas, known as Cristo de Mena, to his processional throne.
On a sunny day, the events began around 10:30 a.m., when the Navy ship Contramaestre Casado, 104 meters long and 14 meters wide, entered the port of Malaga with more than two hundred legionnaires lined up on its deck. .
Once the docking in the Levante dock was completed, the legionnaires disembarked one by one at a brisk pace along the ship’s gangway until they were lined up in the port before the religious, military and civil authorities present, including the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop.
The legionary knights have paraded through the streets packed with Malaga residents and visitors from the port to the Plaza de Fray Alonso de Santo Tomás, where the brotherhood of the Mena Brotherhood is located.
Parade at 160 steps per minute
They arrived there at 12:30 p.m. parading “at 160 steps per minute and with one heart” to participate in the enthronement of the image of the Christ of the Good Death and Souls, which they carried on their shoulders from the church of Santo Domingo to the sounds of the national anthem.
One of the most emotional moments of the event occurred when the legionnaires sang “The Boyfriend of Death” -a couplet piece that was adapted as a legionary song and is often confused with the Legion’s anthem-, while a squad of spenders raised the Christ freehand.
Among the large audience that witnessed the transfer in the square was the Minister Pilar Llop, the Andalusian Minister of Economy, Carolina España, and the actor Antonio Banderas, who was named an honorary legionary in 2013 in recognition of his merits and as a universal man from Malaga. .
Minutes after 1:00 p.m., the mission of the legionnaires has culminated, with the elevation by means of a system of pulleys of the Cristo de la Buena Muerte for its vertical placement on the throne, which weighs 2,650 kilos.
After singing the official hymn of the Legion and enunciating part of the legionary creed, the company of honors and the music band have marched out of the square.
The Legion and Mena, a century of connection
Faithful to tradition, the Legion will accompany this Holy Thursday afternoon in procession the holders of the Mena Brotherhood, the Christ of the Good Death and Souls and Our Lady of Crowned Solitude, which will be carried by a total of 502 men of throne.
The image of Cristo de Mena is a neo-Baroque crucified in carved and polychrome wood made by the Malaga sculptor Francisco Palma Burgos in 1942 -it was restored in 2001-, for which he was inspired by the original by Pedro de Mena y Medrano from Granada, destroyed in May 1931 after the proclamation of the Second Republic. The association of the Mena Brotherhood with the Legion dates back to 1921, and its Cristo de la Buena Muerte was named protector of the legionnaires seven years later.
