Semana Santa is an amazing experience, and a great time to visit to Andalucia.
By Fiona Flores Watson
Holy Week, Semana Santa, in Andalucia is an event that literally transforms towns and cities across this region. Processions of elaborately decorated floats with Jesus and Mary statues, groups of pointy-hood wearing Nazarenos (penitents), and shrill brass bands, walk slowly through the streets, from their parish church to the cathedral and back. It is an amazing experience, and a great time to come to Andalucia if you want to imbibe some deeply-held traditions that have less to do with religion than with social groupings and rituals. Many people avoid this time of year to visit Andalucia, but if you come prepared, both for the crowds and the inflated prices, then it is well worth the effort. You will never see anything like it again.
If you want major pageantry and rich, bejewelled Virgins, Malaga or Seville are the cities to head for. Seville has 60 brotherhoods, some with as many as 2000 members. The biggest stars of the show are the Virgins of Macarena and Triana, both of which make their grand appearance at 'La Madrugada', the small hours of Good Friday.
From Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday traffic is closed off in city centres and the solemn processions take over in the afternoons (so be sure to do your shopping in the morning). The aroma of burning candles, the passionate strains of a late night saeta and the mournful trumpets that accompany images of Christ and the Virgin Mary create an other-wordly ambience that can transport even the most casual observer to another time and place.
But you don't have to be in a big city to get the Semana Santa vibe - villages and towns of every size have their own celebrations, and each province offers its own variation on the Holy Week theme, with many festivities declared to be of National Interest for Tourists.
