Easter is here and Andalusia is at its best. There is no festivity in the year that is celebrated with more devotion, passion and fervor in Andalusia than Easter. Although this tradition is spread all over Spain, it is in Andalusia where it is taken to its maximum expression.
Easter in Andalusia is about art, religious fervor, solemnity and above all, bursting with emotion for one week.
All this can be seen in the processions with the floats carrying images of Christ and the Virgin Mary from their respective parish churches and brotherhood seats to the cathedrals, sometimes carried on the shoulders of devoted penitents who show a deep unbelievable feeling. Floats are flanked by nazarenos wearing their tunics and capirote cones to purge their sins anonymously.
Unlike in other parts of Spain where Easter is a solemn silent celebration, in Andalusia processions are colorful and more sumptuous. Here silence is not mandatory – noise, music and singing (saeta), together with applauses to the floats as they parade along, become part of the event.
Easter celebrations in Malaga are some of the most popular ones in Spain and that’s why they are broadcasted worldwide. Their popularity is due to the unique spirit and exuberance that locals dedicate to this event.
The art of images and floats combines with the colorful show of the thousands of penitents’ girdles, whereas the air is intense with the scent of flowers and incense the multitude can breathe on the streets.
Processions start on Palm Sunday and finish with the end of the Holy Week, on Easter Monday. The most dramatic ones are those of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, with floats weighting up to 5,000 kg parading along the streets carried on the shoulders of hundreds of devotees.
In Marbella Easter is also celebrated intensely, and the show of floats parading around the narrow streets of the old town is especially spectacular. Here the skill of penitents and porteadores is really put to the test.
If you are in Marbella at Easter and do not see the Calvario procession or do not go to Malaga to see El Cautivo, La Legion or Los Estudiantes processions, you will be missing one of the best attractions of Andalusian tradition and lifestyle.
In 2016 Easter starts on Sunday, 20th March (Palm Sunday) and goes on until Easter Sunday (27th March). Many streets of Malaga and Marbella, as well as other towns and villages across the province, are closed to the traffic or have limited-access streets throughout the week.
If you wish to know the routes of the processions in these two places, click on the following links:
