How Is Holy Week Celebrated in Spain?

Semana Santa or Holy Week is celebrated with much ardor by the people of Seville, Spain. Typically, the celebration of Easter or Holy Week/Semana Santa starts on Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) and ends on Easter Sunday (Domingo de Resurreccion). Celebration for this annual event is marked by processions through the narrow streets of the city. Cofradias (Brotherhoods or fraternities) march with penitent hearts from their local church to the Cathedral of Seville and back again.

Approximately 57 Cofradias attend this procession. Two kinds of floats are usually carried: one bearing the stages of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ and the other bearing the Virgin Mary in pain, called Dolorosa. Some of the people participating in the procession may appear as penitents, acolytes, costaleros or float carriers and Nazerenos. At the morning of Good Friday, the most crucial moment of the celebration, the number of participants and spectators of the penitential rites may rise up to 1 million.

From time to time during the procession, the flock may stop at certain points and a mournful song will echo amidst the sound of bugles and drums. The song is called the "saeta."

For generations, this has been way Spaniards in Seville celebrate Holy Week.

The celebration of Holy Week in Leon is marked by more than thirty processions. Apart from this, poetry sessions, concerts and speeches are also held. Processions usually begin during the Viernes de Dolores, the Friday before Holy Week and can last until Easter Sunday. The Procesion del Encuentro or Procesion de los Pasos is the most solemn among all the processions held. This procession hosts approximately 4,000 participating penitents.

Thirteen pasos are carried while moving throughout the city. These pasos represent the apostles of Christ and the Virgin Mary. During the El Encuentro (The Meeting), participants holding the pasos representing St. John and the Virgin Mary (Dolorosa) face the pasos and move them like they are dancing.

This celebration of Holy Week or Semana Santa in Leon is a tradition that has been a part of the city since the 16th century. It is participated by 16 brotherhoods.

Malaga is also famous for its celebration of the Holy Week or Semana Santa. The celebration is also marked by processions which start on Palm Sunday and continue until Easter Sunday. The most dramatic and most solemn part of the processions happen on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. During these times, the streets of the city are filled with people dressed in long purple robes. About 250 members of the brotherhoods carry images of the Passion of Christ on huge floats called tronos.

The men in long purple robes are followed by women dressed in black and each carrying candles. All throughout the procession, band members play solemn music on the drums and trumpets and once in a while, a mournful song will arise above the sounds of the crowd.