Spain is known especially for its Holy Week traditions or Semana Santa. The celebration of Holy Week relies almost exclusively on the processions of the brotherhoods or fraternities. These associations have their origins in the Middle Age, but a number of them were created during the Baroque Period, inspired by the Counterreformation and also during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Holy Week in Cartagena

The Easter Week commemorations in this town are particularly famous for the magnificent floral decorations adorning the religious statues.
In Cartagena there is a marked ‘rivalry’ between the two main religious brotherhoods
the marrajos and the californios.

The origins of the first brotherhood dates back to the beginning of the 17th century –they can be recognised by their purple robes–, while the second was founded in 1747, and wears red. The processions take place over ten days and have some unique features, such as the lavish floral decorations on the ‘pasos’ (the floats bearing the religious images) and the fact that the story of Christ’s Passion is represented in chronological order. The penitents are also unusual: most of them are children, with their faces uncovered, and they distribute mementos of the different brotherhoods and sweets among the crowd. Almost all the processions take place at night, and most start and finish at the church of Santa María de Gracia.

Holy Week in Lorca

This fiesta is also known as the ‘Whites and the Blues’. Although there are other fraternities in Lorca, these two are the most important and there is a clear rivalry between them. The grand procession takes place in what is known as ‘La Carrera’

There are people dressed as Roman emperors, Egyptian troops, Roman gods in heavy carriages, chariots and on horseback, and sculptures of virgins with rich embroidered robes, luxurious standards, and so on. The standard of the ‘Prayer in the Garden’ (white), better known as ‘the floral cloth’, is noteworthy.

Holy Week in Murcia

his Holy Week is characterized by the Nazarenes in their tunics of many colours and their giant ‘bellies’, which are actually a large bag attached with a tight rope, filled with candies, biscuits, hard-boiled eggs and even beans, which are passed out to friends and family along the procession route.

There are more processions in which no sweets are handed out, such as the Refuge, the Rescue, Health, the Return or the Recumbent Christ. One of the most impressive processions is the Silence procession held on Thursday. The most important procession is the Salzillo. It is held on Good Friday early in the morning.