Easter in Spain
Easter is a very important celebration in Spain. The whole of
Holy Week is often
a holiday. A lot of Spanish Catholics fast on
Ash Wednesday
and Good Friday.
On Ash Wednesday, people have a cross made of ash put on their foreheads.
This is a way of saying sorry to God.
On Palm Sunday,
most people go to mass in the morning. Children bring palm leaves and branches
to be blessed by the priest. Sometimes the branches decorated with sweets,
tinsel or have other decorations hanging from them.
On Maundy
Thursday, there is a special 'Dance of Death' celebration in Verges, Gerona.
A scary dance is performed, at night, by men dressed as skeletons.
Many towns and cities in Spain celebrate Easter with processions through the
streets at night. Floats called 'tronos' are carried through the street. Each
float has incredible decorated figures representing part of the Easter story on
it. The floats and statues are often covered in gold, silver and fine cloths.
They are also decorated with lots of fresh flowers. Forty or fifty people carry
each trono on their shoulders on the procession, which can sometimes last
between between four or five hours!
In Murcia, a tronos, telling the story of the Last Supper has real food on on
the table. On Easter Sunday the twenty-six men who have carried the table in the
procession around the town sit down and eat the food!
In southern Spain, the processions are often accompanied by drums being
beaten by the local boys. In the village of Hellin, between eight and ten
thousand drums are beaten at the processions between Holy Wednesday and
Easter Sunday.
The most famous and biggest processions are held in Seville. Each one is
organised by 'Co-fradias', or 'The Brotherhoods'. The Co-fradias try to put on
the biggest and best procession and there is a lot of competition among them as
to who has done so. |
This information first appeared on the
website Why Easter
and is used with permission
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Find out about why we have
Easter traditions and customs,
how Easter is celebrated in
different countries around the world and why
Easter exists, to celebrate the death
and resurrection of Jesus, in the Easter Story.
There's also lots of Easter fun on
the site!
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