The existence of a “ musical” component in the formation is corroborated by the Rules approved by the Brotherhood on 5th July 1865, which set out the procedures for the “ Admission of Brothers and the Conservation of their status as “Armados” in the Cofradía de la Sentencia de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo y María Santísima de la Esperanza (Procession of the Death Sentence of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Most Holy Mary of Hope) in this Parish of San Gil” and which also obliged the members of the Centuria to pay for the musicians’ uniforms and to satisfy their fees for playing in the procession. The Band of the Centuria, which first appeared at this time, comprised just a handful of musicians who heralded the arrival of the paso representing Christ’s unjust sentencing to death with their heartrending, wailing music.įrom the band’s creation until 1897, which was when the Centuria Romana of La Hermandad de la Macarena was last reorganized, its history has been characterised by periods of splendour and stability punctuated by other periods in which the Centuria Romana was disbanded due to discrepancies with the Junta de Gobierno (the Brotherhood’s governing body), decrees issued by the church authorities – for example, the elimination of all “armao” companies in 1766 – or conflicts within the group itself. In processions, they did not walk just behind the paso of La Sentencia, but formed part of its accompanying cortege. At first the group was made up of around twenty five men from the Macarena quarter. The first documentary evidence of the existence of “armaos” (from “armados”, meaning “armed individuals”), a group representing Pontius Pilate’s Praetorian guard and accompanying the paso (processional float) of El Señor de la Sentencia in the Easter procession, is to be found in 1658, coinciding with the Brotherhood’s first plans to incorporate this episode from the Gospels as an element of their devotion to this titular figure.
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The history of the Band of the Centuria Romana of La Hermandad de la Macarena is indissolubly linked to that of the Centuria Romana Macarena itself: the popular “armaos” of La Macarena.