Easter Week in Seville

Easter Week in Seville

Holy Week in Seville combines religious emotion, Gypsy passion, and pagan joy. From Palm Sunday to Good Friday some 65 cofradías (brotherhoods) parade more than 120 pasos (floats) with vivid representations of Christ on the cross followed by the grieving Virgin Mary. More than 50,000 pointy-hooded penitents, known as Nazarenos (20,000 of them lugging wooden crosses), accompany processions through the streets, while central Seville becomes a vast wine-and-tapas fest. Throughout Holy Week, and the Feria de Abril a week later, Seville is officially "de fiesta," partying, with the whole community decked out as if headed to weddings, possibly their own.

The week builds to a crescendo with La Madrugá (dawn), from midnight Thursday into the early hours of Good Friday. El Llamador, the official program, has timetables and information about the cofradías, the icons, the music, and the number of Nazarenos.