Holy Week

The Spanish love a good party. A reason to celebrate. Semana Santa, or Holy Week, starting on Palm Sunday prior to Easter, is a huge deal in Spain. As is Easter. For this one, the term “go big or go home” certainly applies. The Spanish go all out in their celebrations. It’s a wonderful time to experience the culture and immerse yourself in ages old tradition.

While every city and town celebrates a little differently, there are some generalizations in festivities. Generally, there are processions and bands throughout the week. There will be people and crowds everywhere, particularly in the bigger cities. Don’t know where to go? Follow the crowd. Streets will be shut down for the processions. It seems as if the entire city and a million tourists are lining the streets. Waiting. Anticipating. The mood is infectious. Underlying excitement. Wonder and awe. It’s well worth experiencing. We stayed outside of Malaga, and that’s where our Semana Santa affair is based.

To Start

Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday. Traditionally, the Catholic church goers attend mass with palm leaves in tow. These palm leaves are then taken home as a token of blessing. All this is representative and meant to honor when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people laid palm branches down on the road in front of him. These same people who celebrated his arrival turned on him within a few days. He was crucified and then rose from the dead after three days. Thus ensuing the Easter celebration of Jesus atoning for the world’s sins so we may enter the Kingdom of God if we believe in Christ dying for our sins. That’s the ridiculously abbreviated version of course.

Brotherhoods

The brotherhood processions are perhaps the most anticipated and celebrated events of Semana Santa. In Malaga these processions reportedly date back to 1487 following the re-conquest of Malaga by Christian Monarchs. Near immediately after the city take over, brotherhoods were developed to solidify Christian Faith within the area. It wasn’t until the early 1500’s that brotherhoods specifically related to the processions began to form.

A brotherhood is basically a Catholic based group that, besides being faith based, aides in the planning and organization of the processions. I believe each brotherhood is tied to a specific church. In Malaga alone there are just over 40 brotherhoods that perform about 45 processions over the week. Each brotherhood has their own floats and outfits. Each group will begin their procession at their church, follow a specific route to the main cathedral and then return to their church.

Details

Navigating the streets in Malaga during processions can be intense. Multiple processions can be going on at once. Which means crossing specific streets will likely not happen. And the crowds are full. Some people purchase seats in a series of stands a YEAR ahead of time.

Semana Santa is regarded as a holiday in Spain. Meaning, several shops will likely be closed or at least have reduced hours. Some restaurants will also be closed. If you plan to eat out, it may not be a bad night for reservations. There will be a load of people in town.

Nazarenos

Walking around you’ll likely see numerous Nazarenos running around. These are the “penitents” of the processions. They are easy to identify in their traditional tunics, often velvet, and pointed hoods. Generally the hoods are off when not in procession as they are designed to cover the face and only have holes for the eyes to see through. The people beneath the cloaks range from young children to grandparents. If you can walk the procession route and are a member, you’re in.

I will admit I found these Nazareno outfits rather shocking, being from the US. Especially when I saw white tunics with the traditional conical hat. Turns out the KKK ripped off a very old traditional outfit from the Spaniards. They do NOT represent the same thing. It was still a tad startling initially.

The Malaga Processions

You’ll hear the processions coming before you see them. Nearly every one (except the specific purposefully silent ones) include a band or three with drums and brass instruments. Sometimes trumpets. The music is distinct with its buhrum, buhrum sounds and sets the emotional tone quite well.

In the processions will be the hooded Nazareno. Their traditional garb colors are dependent on which brotherhood they belong to. Colors are all over the place and range from blue, green, white or purple. There will be plenty of insignia carried, from banners to crosses. Someone will be swinging incense. Some ladies might wear traditional black mantilla’s, which represent a time of mourning.

Then come the pasos, or floats. In front of each one are candle bearers. Each procession has two floats. The first depicts Christ. The second, a mourning Mary. These floats may be carved from wood, silver, bronze or nickel. They are remarkably heavy and extremely ornate. Each one is carried by a line of “bearers” who hold the float aloft on their shoulders. Multiple beams or bars run the length of the float, which then rests on their shoulders. A man with a bell goes in front of them and rings it off and on to indicate a period of rest where the bearers set the structure down. They may carry the float for up to 6-14 hours. It’s a big job and highly respected. They train for this in the upcoming months.

The “Passion of Christ” float will vary per brotherhood but is always related to a passage in the gospel. His “throne” or float floor is often covered with flowers. There are candles on the float. A marching band immediately follows. The second float will depict the Virgin Mary. She is normally wearing an ornate dress with a long cape embroidered with gold or silver thread. Often hundreds of candles are lit on her float and she’s frequently under an ornate canopy. She is always beautiful, even in her sorrow. Generally, another marching band follows her.

On a less somber note, some of the best people to watch are the poor candle lighters. Imagine trying to reignite 50 or so of the couple hundred candles via a long pole that has to reach 8 plus feet up in the air. Worst and most stressful job of the day I think.

Small Town Processions

It’s not only the cities that have processions. We stayed in Benalmadena Pueblo and were charmed by the small town’s processions. Twice, we specifically ventured out into the streets to find the processions and twice we had processions pass directly below our balcony windows on the narrow street below.

These smaller processions do not lack in beauty. The floats remain stunning. And as the crowds are less, you’ll likely get a better view. We were at eye level with Jesus and Mary as they paraded past our rented residence.

One of the fascinating things in Benalmadena was watching the procession navigate those narrow streets and tight corners. Someone held a long pole in case a power line required an extra lift to clear the floats. There was someone responsible for calling out orders to the bearers to slowly swing around those tight corners without touching the walls. And man were they close. The guide would call out orders. If you watched closely, you could see the bearers shuffle one foot in sync and do a mini pivot on the other foot. Followed by a mini shuffle step, pivot and repeat until called forward. Many of the float bearers vision is completely obscured and they have to rely on those prompts when navigating those narrow passages.

There was also more of a sense of local pride to the smaller town processions. People knew the bearers and Processionary members. They knew the kids swinging incense. Which, by the way, stunk up the house for the entire next day. One kid even dropped their incense ball and left a giant sooty smear right outside our doorstep. Poor kid. Looked crestfallen. Whoops. Was having way too much much fun swinging that ball around.

Overall, the locals seemed more than happy to embrace us within their group during the processions and thrilled that we were enjoying their beauty. We even partly joined in on a late night silent march. Or as silent as Spain ever gets I suppose, though the din was low for the quantity of people out. In this one, there was no band, just silence. The procession lead via candle light and the townspeople followed behind with candles. The procession lasted quite late into the night and went up to the town church. I’ve said it before, the Spanish know how to live and live well. They certainly know how to celebrate well.

Reenactments

Another popular occurrence during Semana Santa are religious reenactments. We went to one in Benalmadena Pueblo, called El Paso. This particular reenactment celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2025. It’s held in the El Retamar Rustic Park, directly next to the Stupa. The latter of which has well maintained restrooms that seem to always be open and free to the public. Always good to know. The park is home to many of the plays permanent features, or structures which cover the hillside. They’re fun to walk around on a non play day.

The play consists of around 120 locals who essentially reenact 35 biblical scenes or stories in an open air environment. They use live horses for the Roman soldiers and a donkey for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem. Scenes largely depict Christ’s story leading up to the crucifixion but also include the story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Issac.

Costumes for the play are fabulous. They obviously put a load of thought and love into the play. It spans four hours and is all in Spanish. They do hand out brochures so you can follow along if need be. There’s a healthy mix of dialogue and singing. And a load of wailing. There may be some liberties taken for sure, but the performance is phenomenal and well done.

There are bleachers to sit on and admission is free. Stands sell snacks, some food and drinks. There are people all over the place. The show spans over two days each year, one show on Maundy Thursday and one on Good Friday, the Thursday and Friday prior to Easter.

Notes

A good thing to note about Spain and Easter is the length of holidays. While many shops will close early or completely during Semana Santa, almost everything is closed on Holy Friday, Easter Sunday AND the following Monday. The Monday after Easter is a public holiday. Treat it like a Sunday, nearly everything will be closed. One should plan accordingly.

We found the Easter season in Spain to be a delightful experience. So much more than ridiculous Easter bunnies and too many sweets. Spain honors their traditions and culture with an entire week of celebrations. It is spectacular to witness.