Easter Week in Granada, Spain

Andie Ayala
April 11, 2018

As a historically Catholic country, Spain is known for their Holy Week traditions, especially for their processions, food and music. Foreign tourists, in addition to Spaniards from other parts of the country, flock to Granada on this week to witness these impressive and extravagant processions. There are 32 processions that take place over the course of the week in the small city.  Each of these processions are organized by different Christian confradías, fraternities or brotherhoods, some of which can be traced back to the conquest of Granada in 1492. Every year, the processions follow the same route and schedule; some of them snake through the narrow streets of the Albaicín, while others walk alongside the river Darro. Though all of them return to the main Cathedral of Granada, the end times of the processions range from 3:00pm to 4:00am. 

 

Despite travelling around Eastern Europe for my Easter break vacation; I wanted to make sure that I came back to Granada, Spain to witness the tail end of the processions. Though I was only able to watch two different processions on Easter Sunday; La Resurrección and Resucitado, it was incredible to be able to learn about the history and unique terminology for the centuries-old tradition. 

Andie Ayala

<p>I'm from the Philippines, and enjoy hearing other people's stories, especially through videos, books, journalism, midnight conversations, meals, long runs or road trip. I am especially interested in how to create environments of empathy. I took a gap year before entering university in the Sacred Valley of Cusco, Peru, which very much opened my eyes to see the beauty in the world and in other people.</p>

Home University:
Princeton University
Hometown:
Manila, Philippines
Major:
Anthropology
Explore Blogs