The Spanish Holy Week – Spanish Easter
The Spanish Holy Week – Spanish Easter
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week in Spain, one of the oldest, most striking and emotional celebrations in this country, in which popular religiosity, tradition and art have been mixed for several centuries.
Following the Catholic tradition, during Holy Week the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is celebrated.
For eight days, until Easter Sunday, the streets of all the towns and cities of Spain host various processions: solemn parades in which hundreds of cofrades or Nazarenes walk the streets carrying religious images, called pasos, to the rhythm of drums and, religious and traditional music played by bands.
In each area of Spain the processions have different characteristics and, while in Andalusia region, that is, popular chants sung by anonymous people as they pass by Christs, Virgins and Saints, are typical, in the center of Spain, in Castile and Leon, the processions are much more austere, with an impressive silence among the crowd during the parade, only broken by the funeral chants of the musical bands that accompany the different steps.
But all of them have a common characteristic: the great participation of the citizens, who turn out to celebrate their towns and cities, filling the streets when the processions pass by, both day and night.
Holy Week begins in all regions with the Palm Sunday processions, which commemorate Jesus'; entry into Jerusalem.
On Monday, Tuesday and Holy Wednesday there are also processions, although of lesser importance. On Holy Thursday evening and Good Friday the most important parades take places, in which the Last Supper, the arrest of Jesus Christ by the Romans, his passion (the Calvary) and his crucifixion are remembered.
Finally, Easter or Easter Sunday is a much more joyful day because it celebrates the resurrection of the Son of God and his reunion with his mother. And, along with the processions, during Easter Week in any part of Spain, traditional pastries cannot be missed, with sweets made from simple, homemade recipes, including torrijas, slices of bread soaked in milk, sugar and eggs, and then fried in a frying pan with oil! Yummy!
The Spanish Holy Week – Spanish Easter
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week in Spain, one of the oldest, most striking and emotional celebrations in this country, in which popular religiosity, tradition and art have been mixed for several centuries.
Following the Catholic tradition, during Holy Week the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is celebrated.
For eight days, until Easter Sunday, the streets of all the towns and cities of Spain host various processions: solemn parades in which hundreds of cofrades or Nazarenes walk the streets carrying religious images, called pasos, to the rhythm of drums and, religious and traditional music played by bands.
In each area of Spain the processions have different characteristics and, while in Andalusia region, that is, popular chants sung by anonymous people as they pass by Christs, Virgins and Saints, are typical, in the center of Spain, in Castile and Leon, the processions are much more austere, with an impressive silence among the crowd during the parade, only broken by the funeral chants of the musical bands that accompany the different steps.
But all of them have a common characteristic: the great participation of the citizens, who turn out to celebrate their towns and cities, filling the streets when the processions pass by, both day and night.
Holy Week begins in all regions with the Palm Sunday processions, which commemorate Jesus'; entry into Jerusalem.
On Monday, Tuesday and Holy Wednesday there are also processions, although of lesser importance. On Holy Thursday evening and Good Friday the most important parades take places, in which the Last Supper, the arrest of Jesus Christ by the Romans, his passion (the Calvary) and his crucifixion are remembered.
Finally, Easter or Easter Sunday is a much more joyful day because it celebrates the resurrection of the Son of God and his reunion with his mother. And, along with the processions, during Easter Week in any part of Spain, traditional pastries cannot be missed, with sweets made from simple, homemade recipes, including torrijas, slices of bread soaked in milk, sugar and eggs, and then fried in a frying pan with oil! Yummy!