Confraternities

The primary religion in Garganta la Olla was Catholicism. Therefore, there were many people who participated in the lay activies of the confraternity, a service organization. Through the years, there were 9 different confraternities. Some people belonged to more than one at a time. The spanish word for confraternity is cofradia.

They were:

Cofradia of Saint Mark, Cofradia of Martyred Saints, Cofradia of Saint Anne, Cofradia of the Lady of the Assumption, Cofradia of Saint Blaise, Cofradia of Our Lady of the Rosary, and Cofradia of the Blessed Sacrament, Brotherhood of Shrovetide and the Cofradia of the Minervas.

Each of these confraternities had a religious purpose which reiterated the fact that religion was a significant part of every-day life in Garganta la Olla. The main confraternity of the town were those of Our Lady of the Rosary, The Blessed Sacrament and Saint Anne.

The people in the picture below are wearing the robes of the confraternity. They were religious, sacred robes, worn only when they were participating in religious activities. The robes look very similiar to the robes worn in the Unites States by a civil rights group called "The Ku Klux Klan." They actually originated in these earlier religious orders from Europe.