Easter week has arrived.
In Segura, early in the morning, they head to the fields to gather rosemary, which will be spread across the floor of the parish church. The Brothers of Mercy mobilize to carry out the religious rites. It’s always been this way for as long as they can remember, just as their parents and grandparents told them.
The tradition must be carried on, but there are fewer people each year, and it’s increasingly difficult to find those willing—or able—to participate.
Over the course of a week, the documentary follows the preparations and involvement of the Brothers in the Easter celebrations of this border village. So the tradition may be fulfilled once again. But now, no one seems to care. When our generation dies, this may all come to an end. It might very well end.
In Segura, a border village in the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova, the men of the Brotherhood of the Holy House of Mercy and the Confraternity of the Holy Spirit gather to collect the rosemary that will cover the church floor, where the Easter rituals will take place. They recall how it was in their youth and express concern about the continuity of the tradition in their village.
The younger generations have left in search of other futures. The village is now mostly home to elderly people—retirees who returned, some in frail health. Who will be able to carry out all the steps of this tradition in the only village where the Washing of the Feet ceremony is still held?
The film reveals the spirit of volunteerism and determination of a group of men and women who do everything they can to Keep the Tradition Alive.
Segura – or maybe not is the lingering question that returns each year: will they all be together again for the next celebration—for the Fundraising, the Washing of the Feet, the Procession of the Encounter or Calvary, the Supper of the Twelve, the Burning of the Rosemary, the Way of the Cross, the Lord’s Burial Procession, the Resurrection Procession and Mass, and the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit Lunch.