thumbnail, The drummers gather at Andorra's town hall square The Ruta del Tambor y el Bombo (literally ''"Drum and Bass Drum Route"'') is a celebration of

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

and the

Passion of Christ In Christianity, the Passion (from the Latin verb ''patior, passus sum''; "to suffer, bear, endure", from which also "patience, patient", etc.) is the short final period in the life of Jesus Christ. Depending on one's views, the "Passion" m ...

that takes place in nine towns in south-eastern

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

), in the

province of Teruel Teruel (Catalan: ''Terol'' ) is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. The capital is Teruel. It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia (including its exclave Rincón de Ademuz), Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Zar ...

Albalate del Arzobispo Albalate del Arzobispo is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality had a population of 2,180 inhabitants. Monuments This is a beautiful town of Moorish origin, altho ...

Alcañiz Alcañiz () is a town and municipality of Teruel province in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. The town is located on the banks of the river Guadalope. Alcañiz is the unofficial capital of the Lower Aragon historical region. It lies som ...

, Alcorisa,

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

, Calanda, Híjar, la Puebla de Híjar, Samper de Calanda and Urrea de Gaén. During

, a number of residents of those towns wear a special tunic and play either the drum or the bass drum at specified moments, also marching during

procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

s. The combination of all the drums playing simultaneously creates a remarkably loud din. The tradition establishes that all drum players must start playing at the same time at a certain moment, emulating the tremor after Jesus death. This beginning is called ''"Rompida de la hora"'' (literally, ''Breaking the hour'') and starts in almost every village on Maundy Thursday at 12 pm immediately after special signaling in the Town Hall Square (except in Calanda, where it's at 12 noon on Good Friday). There is also an established moment, in Easter Saturday, at which drum playing must stop. Each town has its own drum rolls and a different color for their tunics. This tradition might originate from some ancient ceremony, or more probably from the Middle Ages, when knights of the

military order Military order may refer to: Orders * Military order (religious society), confraternity of knights originally established as religious societies during the medieval Crusades for protection of Christianity and the Catholic Church Military organi ...

s could have brought the two percussion instruments to the land. The tradition became famous thanks to the filmmaker

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...

(a native from Calanda), who included images of it in some of his films.Buñuel film in Youtube
/ref> Until the 1980s, men were the only ones who could play the drums in some of the towns. From that date, women have gradually incorporated. This celebration was declared of National Tourist Interest in Spain in November 2005. Except in the town of Híjar, declared in 1980, 25 years earlier than any other town in the ''route''. On June 6, 2014, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism declared the ''Ruta del Tambor y el Bombo'' as ''Festival of International Tourist Interest''.

References

{{Authority control Festivals in Spain Easter traditions