Easter Week in Almuñécar

Easter Week in Almuñécar has been declared to be of National Tourist Interest in Andalusia, and each year the streets of the municipality of Almuñécar, in the province of Granada are filled with tradition and heartfelt devotion.

It is one of the most important festivities celebrated in the town which involves all the brotherhoods making detailed preparatory work long beforehand, which is later translated into beautiful processions which are a demonstration of the great devotion professed by the town. It commemorates the Catholic festival of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in what constitutes one of the most beautiful and heart-rending events that can be experienced. The programme consists of a total of 16 processional parades which are carefully prepared each year by the Association of Holy Week Brotherhoods.

The brotherhoods organise the processions that parade through the streets and squares every day carrying beautiful "pasos" and "tronos" adorned with flowers and religious images that are carried on the shoulders of the participants. Brothers and sisters accompany the images, bearing candles and banners, until the early hours of the morning, while music fills the air with emotion, devotion and feeling. One of the most interesting peculiarities of Easter Week in Almuñécar is the Celebration of 'El Paso' (the Passage).

On Good Friday morning, dozens of "sexitanos" (people from Almuñécar) become actors and represent a sacramental play that recreates the journey that Christ made through the Calle de la Amargura and that is accompanied by images of Ntro. Padre Jesús Nazareno, Ntra. Sra. De los Dolores, Santa María Magdalena and San Juan Evangelista carried shoulder high. Although tradition simply states that this event has been taking place since time immemorial, studies have shown that this particular representation dates back to the 16th century, when the format was a little different with more players involved in the Passion and everyone wearing masks and allegorical features. Images were incorporated at the beginning of the 17th century, the only "judeas" or "extras" that remained were men dressed in clothes and masks representing the apostles, "the Romans" a group of Roman legionnaires with more baroque than Roman attire, "Longinos" the centurion with a child tied to him and "Simon of Cyrene" dressed in a peasant costume and with a stick and a mask.