Semana Santa – Easter in Spain

Happy Easter to everyone in America!

Here in Spain they celebrate Easter in a different way that we do. For example, the Spanish find excuses to have parties, so instead of only being one day, Semana Santa (Easter) lasts a whole week!

My family and I returned to Rota for five days, and experience all Semana Santa has to offer! Every night there is a procession that walks through the streets very very slowly in almost every town in Spain. There are people dressed up in outfits called capirote, and every night is a different color. You can not see any part of there body, so for me it was like a horror movie, but to everyone else it was normal and beautiful!

In the procession men carry these gigantic floats that represent Jesus and different parts of his life. These floats weigh hundreds of pounds and are different every night! There is also a band with drums, trumpets, flutes, clarinet, ext. This was my favorite part of the procession because theres no words, so I was understanding the music the same as everyone else! It made me feel somewhat normal because I am always different than everyone else! My blonde hair and blue eyes are a big give away that I am American, or at least not from Spain!

The procession starts around 8 and usually does not end until 3 in the morning! The people get dressed up in dresses and heels every night to watch this. It is a beautiful thing to see yes, but I don’t understand the need to suffer in heels for 7 hours to see the same exact thing at every street!

It is odd that this year I didn’t dye a single Easter egg, or eat peanut butter eggs. I think I might celebrate Easter in June when I return and recreate a little Easter breakfast.