Agnetha enjoys her first Semana Santa in Málaga

Hi guys, did you miss my stories from Spain? I have been a few weeks without blogging because I have gone to Stockholm to visit my daughters.

As you know, I’m doing an intensive Spanish course in Malaga and-although I was originally planning to stay a few more days in Sweden-I’ve decided to come back to experience my first Semana Santa in Malaga. The truth is that in my country most of the people are Christians, but they don’t celebrate this feast as they do in Spain: there they celebrate Easter.

The activities to celebrate Easter are very diverse, but the youngest members of the family are the ones who enjoy it the most: from painting Easter eggs with watercolors, to racing eggs. You’ve probably seen in the American TV series a father dressing up as an Easter bunny for his children, well yes, in Sweden we do it too.

I took advantage of the fact that this week I had postponed my Spanish classes because I returned to Spain yesterday and I had a lot of plans to do at Easter. So, I spent some time with my friend Macarena and she told me about the program of the processions in Malaga and how this celebration is usually experienced here.

If you are planning to come to Malaga to study Spanish or tourism this week, I leave you the best plans to do these days. You know that Macarena knows the best tricks and as she says, Olé su arte!

Maundy Thursday: the Holy Supper is celebrated, the day that commemorates the last supper that Jesus had with the apostles. For this reason the processions of this day are representative of “La Santa Cena” and begin at 17:15. All the processions leave from the center of Malaga, so you will have no problem to find them. Besides, you will hear the sound of the orchestra accompanying the pasos from almost anywhere in the city, and Macarena told me that the *Capuchinos give candy to the children -I find it super curious that Spaniards end any parade throwing candy to the children-.

Good Friday: it commemorates the passion of Jesus, that is, his death on the Cross. For this reason, the processions are called “del Silencio” or “de Luto”. In the processions you will see the figure of the Manolas, or widows, who are all dressed in black. Macarena’s daughter will go out in the procession, she is very devoted to “La Piedad” which is how this paso is called, where you can see the image of the Virgin Mary mourning the death of her son.

Holy Saturday: it commemorates the disappearance of Jesus from the tomb and his descent into the abyss. On this day the images of the empty tomb are very common. There are not many famous processions in Malaga on this day, but if you want to live Holy Week to the fullest, you can walk through the center of Malaga and you will surely find a procession.

Easter Sunday: it is the last day of Holy Week and it is, without a doubt, the most emotional day as it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. The processions take on a joyful tone and, without a doubt, I am looking forward to this Sunday to live in this atmosphere.

Surely you have read this blog and you may have wondered what many of the words I have used mean, do not worry, it is totally normal. That’s why I leave you some little notes so that you can become an expert in Holy Week like me.

I hope you find them very useful and that you can put them into practice when you come to study Spanish in Malaga like me.

See you next time guys!

Agnetha

*Pasos: they are the platform on which the images that go in procession during Holy Week are placed. In some places in Spain they are also called thrones.

*Confraternities: they are associations that venerate the same Virgin, Saint or religious image. For example, in Malaga the “Fervorosa Hermandad de Culto y Procesión del Santísimo Cristo de La Crucifixión” (Fervent Brotherhood of Worship and Procession of the Holy Christ of the Crucifixion) is very famous.

*Capuchins: they have their origin in the monks of the antiquity and they are called this way by this reference. They wear their faces covered and a cap or pointed cap.