Holy week in Seville, Spain. Semana Santa.

Holy Week in Seville

Semana Santa (Holy Week/easter) has been one of the most important celebrations in Seville for centuries. The other big celebration is the April Fair of Seville.

During holy week the Cofradías (Brotherhoods or Fraternities) process in penitence through the (many narrow) streets of the city, from their church to the Cathedral and back, taking the shortest possible route, as decreed in the rule of the ordinances by Cardenal Niño de Guevara in the 17th century.

Starting on Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday), and ending on Domingo de Resurrección (Easter Sunday), there are 57 brotherhoods that pay the religious visist to the Cathedral of Seville, the third largest Cathedral in the world.

Dates of Holy Week

2009 : 5 - 12 de Abril
2010 : 28 de Marzo - 4 de Abril
2011 : 17 - 24 de Abril

Empezando el Domingo de Ramos y terminando el Domingo de Resurección, durante la Semana Santa las hermandades cumplen con su visita religiosa a la Catedral de Sevilla, la tercera más grande del mundo.

Hotels and accommodations for Holy Week in Seville

It's recommendable to make your reservations for hotels more than 2 months before, otherwise the most popular hotels and hostels may be fully booked.

We also recommend to consider coming around monday, tuesday and wednesday instead of Thursday and/or Friday. In the beginning of the week nor the hotels nor the city is too crowded yet and you can enjoy seeing the floats with more relax.

Click here for the list of hotels in Seville

Floats and processions

Most brotherhoods carry two floats:
a float with a Christ, representing the distinct stages of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ
and a float with a Dolorosa (Mary the Virgin in pain) under a canopy.
Some brotherhoods even carry three floats, like the so-called: El Amor, La Cena, San Benito, or la Trinidad, others have just one like Santa Marta, La Quinta Angustia, la Soledad de San Buenaventura, or la Soledad de San Lorenzo.

Resuming, in the eight days of Semana Santa, a total of 57 brotherhoods, carry their 116 floats from their church to the Cathedral and back, in the company of around 60,000 brothers participating in their different appearances:

Nazarenos (Nazarenes)
Penitents
Costaleros (float carriers)
Acolytes

The crowd watching the Virgen of the Baratillo fraternity.

The number of spectators may rise up to the impressing number of one million people during the most important moments of Semana Santa in Seville: the early morning of Good Friday which is when the brotherhoods of el Silencio, el Gran Poder, La Macarena, El Calvario, La Esperanza de Triana and los Gitanos set off for their processional penitence to the Cathedral.

A first (small) step to understanding Semana Santa in Seville, is knowing what a procession is about.
Also you may find it interesting to see the map that indicates all the processional routes of Semana Santa.

Nazarenes and Penitents

Floats with a Christ

Christ of

The Christ of Santa Cruz, on the corner of Mateos Gago street.

Floats with a Virgin

The virgen of San Bernardo, just out of her temple.

Quick links to recommended travel services and destinations in Andalusia, Spain

Cheap flights from several providers

Spain car hire

Cruises from Spain

Sierra Nevada Skiing and hotels	Semana Santa 2009 Holy week: April 5-12	Seville April Fair 2009 April 28 - May 3
Sierra Norte de Sevilla Natural park Sevilla Province, Spain	Sierra de Aracena Natural park Huelva Province, Spain	Sierra de Grazalema Natural park Cádiz Province, Spain
White villages Cádiz province	City and mountain-range of Ronda Malaga Province	Torcal de Antequera Málaga Province
La Alpujarra Granada Province	Sierra de Cazorla Natural Park Jaen Province, Spain	Cabo de Gata Natural park & beach Almería Province, Spain
Alcazar palace Seville City, Spain	The Mosque- Mezquita Cordoba City, Spain	Alhambra palace Granada City, Spain