See How The Spanish Celebrate Easter
Easter in Spain is a captivating time. Easter Week, or Semana Santa as the Spanish say, is a time of national celebration, a chance to see a wonderful side of the country and its people. From the smallest of towns and rural villages to the famous sprawling metropolises of Madrid and Barcelona, everyone takes to the streets to enjoy the celebrations where religious processions, parades and fiestas are like nothing found outside of Spain at Easter time. The best way to see the majesty of this time of year is to rent a car Malaga and explore the beautiful southernmost coast of Spain by car.
Set off from the airport in your rental car and head east along the Mediterranean coastline. With the notoriously cheap car hire Spain has to offer, this type of holiday offers you so much for so little. With phenomenal beaches and endless clear blue sea on offer, you can wind your way along the shoreline, sampling the untouched beauty and authentic charm that this part of the world has to offer. With the world famous Sierra Nevada Mountains to your left and Spain’s cleanest and most striking coastlines to your right, you are guaranteed of a great trip.
Easter Festivities
Holy Week in Spain is known as ‘Semana Santa’ in Spain and is most widely celebrated in the towns and cities of Andalucia – and Seville has one of the biggest Semana Santa Festivals along with the April Fair (Feria de Abril) which generally follows two weeks later.
Semana Santa takes place the week leading up to the Easter weekend and consists of processions in which enormous ‘pasos’ (floats) are carried around the streets of Seville by teams of bearers followed by hundreds of ‘nazarenos’ (penitents). Many of these floats are religious works of art that date back as far as the 17th century, each showing a small part of the Easter story. Thousands of people line the streets waiting to catch a glimpse of the processions, each of which takes many hours between leaving its parish and returning there after following a set route around the city. There are over 50 brotherhoods known as cofradÃas and many  have two floats to parade around the town, so this is a momentous occasion for anyone Spanish and visitors should be aware of it’s importance in the Spanish calendar.
Following on from this is the April Fair – hundreds of marquees, traditional food, dancing and music makes this one of the key European Festivals to experience. The colour, sounds and scents of Spain are fantanstic.
Get off the beaten track and enjoy the traditional celebrations of Andalucia. Find out in advance online, or at various tourist information points about parades or other celebrations that are taking place . Traditional music and religious processions, costumes, dancing, food and drink are all readily on display in town squares and streets.
Whilst Spain has so much to offer during this special time of year, and you are sure to see some amazing sights. One other thing to consider, is that while much of the Spanish population is celebrating a tradional family Easter, the beaches are sure to be quieter than usual. If you are looking for a relaxing few days on the beach, this could also be a great time to make the most of the Spanish sun too!