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One of the best things about living in Spain, apart from the great weather, food,
wine and friendly people, is the enthusiastic way in which whole towns come together to celebrate and preserve the centuries old traditions. One of the best and most fascinating examples of this is
the Semana Santa (or Easter) celebrations, which started last Sunday (Palm Sunday) amd culminate over a week later (semana Santa means Holy Week) on Easter Monday.
The main event is the series of
processions from all the churches of the town to the main Cathedral.
Sinners seeking retribution don hoods (for anonymity) and march along dragging large wooden crosses, some barefoot. Others carry huge floats with statues of Saints and Virgins on top, representing their particular church. Children join in too, they walk alongside the adults and hand out small cards depicting either the Saint or the Virgin of their church - these cards are eagerly sought after by the children who line the route, competing between them to see who can amass the best collection. All in all, thousands of members of the churches various brotherhoods cover the slow shuffle through the streets in a series of processions, starting on Palm Sunday and finishing on the Easter Monday, each procession taking several hours to reach its destination, and each day seeing three or four separate processions.
Here in the Alicante area, the town of Orihuela has the dubious honour of being the only town in Spain which bans one of the processional floats from entering the Cathedral as it depicts a naked
female devil! Probably the most celebrated of the regionīs processions are in Elche, where confetti is thrown into the air to celebrate the resurrection of Christ at the Hallelujahs procession,
and the town centre grinds to a halt for almost the entire week to make way for the processions and the huge crowds who flock to see them.
The week is not just for the religious - the crowded
streets, festival-like atmosphere and spring weather combine to make it a special time for everyone. Indeed, whilst some cities officially combine Easter week with general celebrations based on the
coming of Spring and the spirit of renewal, there is always an unofficial positive feeling associated with the celebrations, sometimes clashing with the more sombre processions, that the really fun part
of the year is beginning - perhaps this explains why almost everyone is every town seems to look forward so eagerly to Semena Santa, event those who donīt march in the actual processions, seem to enjoy
watching one after another, clearly revelling in the carnival mood of the busy streets.
Not to miss out on an opportunity for a good feed, Easter produces its own crop of speciality foods and the
Spanish are not shy when it comes to food and drink - Semana Santa is another great excuse to eat out in one of the many great restaurants of the region, and with the weather really getting into its
stride, thereīs nothing like sitting back on a sunny terrace, having a great meal, a lovely bottle of wine, and watching the crowds go by.
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