For Holy Week Celebrations, Semana Santa in Seville is the Most Famous in Spain:
Semana Santa in Seville is one of the most important religious events on the Sevillian calendar and Seville’s Holy Week celebrations are also one of the most well-known in Spain. As such, Seville’s Semana Santa attracts many Spanish devotees and hordes of tourists.
Semana Santa Dates for 2012
Holy Week in Spain is a week-long celebration running from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. The Semana Santa dates for 2012 are April 1st to April 8th.
Semana Santa Pasos
On each day of Holy Week, there are various events taking place in Seville. However, the central activities of any Semana Santa celebrations are the procession of pasos. Visitors to Seville can expect to see over 100
guilded floats inching their way through the streets. Brotherhoods of robed men carry pasos bearing life-size sculptures and religious images depicting the Virgin, Christ or scenes of the Passion. Most brotherhoods usually carry two floats, one with Christ and the other with the Virgin. However, some do carry a third float.
Holy Week processions are organized by the hermandades and cofradías, the brotherhoods whose religious associations care for the images of Christ and Mary that are used in the processions. There are some 60 brotherhoods in Seville and each of these will pay a visit to the Cathedral of Seville during Holy Week.
A spectacular sight at the procession are the nazarenos, dressed in penitential robes and hoods and they are usually accompanied by brass bands. Many of the processions pass through an official viewing area which includes some of Seville’s main streets. Beginning in Campana, they go through Calle Sierpes, Plaza San Francisco, and Avenida de la Constitución, before reaching the Cathedral.
The celebrations ramp up a notch during the final few days before Easter, and emotions run high in the early hours of Good Friday as the images of the Virgen de la Macarena and the Virgen de la Esperanza of Triana appear from their churches.
Accommodation in Seville
Seville is a hive of activity during Holy Week so if you are planning on joining in the celebrations, you should book your Seville hotel and flights no less than three months in advance. Hotels in districts like Macarena and Triana will be especially in demand as the Virgen de la Macarena and the Virgen de la Esperanza of Triana are housed in their respective churches in Macarena and Triana. For the complete list of hotels in Seville, see HERE.
If you can handle the crowds and the madness during Holy Week, Semana Santa in Seville is a spectacle and an experience not to be missed.
Map of Seville:
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