Semana Santa
Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a hugely important festival for Veleños. For a week the whole town is taken over by processions, and the streets fill with incense and music. Whether you’re religious or not from start to finish, it’s an unmissable experience…
Introduction to Easter in Velez-Malaga
Semana Santa is a big deal in Velez-Malaga. After the big cities it is recognised as one of the most impressive in the whole of Spain. If you haven’t experienced Easter week in Spain before, it’s truly a sight to behold.
Along with the usual accompaniments to a fiesta (including lots of amazing food and drink), Velez’s Semana Santa sees phenomenal processions that build in complexity and grandeur throughout the week to Good Friday (the climax). The highlight is the processions themselves: huge floats (tronos) weighing up to 5,000kg depict different scenes from the events in the week leading to Christ’s death and then resurrection. It sounds sombre, and occasionally can be, but it’s also incredibly beautiful and moving.
19 individual ‘brotherhoods’ will prepare for these parades for an entire year, each designing floats depicting an image of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and associated saints.
When you visit Velez during Easter, try to experience the drama of the floats entering and exiting a church, floats meeting in the street and the dedication of strength on long routes or steep hill climbs. If you’d like to know times and routes see our Semana Santa itinerary.
The Week Leading Up to Easter Sunday
Palm Sunday
Procession: Pollinica y Rocio.
Processions start on Palm Sunday, which is on the last Sunday of Lent (a changeable date this year 24th March 2024). On this day the floats and processions will depict Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Balconies are decorated with plaited palms and expect people to lay palm leaves in front of the float which will eventually come to rest at the church of San Juan Bautista. The congregation will worship here and also pay homage to the carving of the Virgen del Rocio statue that resides in the church.
Best viewing is at Plaza San Juan de Dios (in the middle of the processions) or get there early and see the first lighting of the Virgen de la Candelaria’s candles at 17.00hrs at Mercado de San Fransisco.
Holy Tuesday
Processions: Ecce Homo, Dolores, Coronado de Espinas.
Processions today feature the oldest of the brotherhoods and oldest of the floats to feature in Velez’s Semana Santa. The best place to watch this is near the start of the parade on Calle de la Carrera where a float depicting the Virgin lies in wait to escort another float at the entrance to the Paso del Ecce-Homo before continuing on amidst a throng of thrones and live marching bands.
The ‘Brotherhood of Ecce-Homo begin a procession from the Church of San Jose. Their float, which has four fire pits burning in each corner, is one of the most dramatic at the parade. See this float at Plaza de Constitucion.
Holy Wednesday
Processions: Sentencia, Huerto y Desamparados, Medinaceli y Magdalena.
The catchily named ‘Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus of Judgement & the Virgin of Grace’ begins its parade from Calle San Isidro. The floats are a highlight of today and depict the judgement of Pontius Pilate on Jesus Christ. This parade is best seen along the passage for Tribuna de los Pobres on Calle Felix Lomas.
El Huerta depicts Jesus and an olive tree, this leaves from Mercado de San Francisco at 19.05hrs aside from it leaving or returning to the market, the Escalerilla de San Juan is a good place to see it climb up the hill.
The final parade of Wednesday leaves at 21.15 it gives us a depiction of Jesus captive and helpless, and of Mary Magdalene and other devotees going to see him. This leaves and returns (at 2am) to San Juan Bautista church.
Maundy Thursday
Processions: Pobre y Esperanza, Gran Poder y Amargura, Estudiantes, Humildad y Paz, Rico y Piedad.
In keeping with the themes of Christ’s last week of life, the atmosphere throughout Maundy Thursday and Good Friday can be very sombre. These are the days when worship and prayer will be most prevalent and celebrations slightly more subdued. Not that this is bad thing, however, as the setting can provide a truly unique experience for both religious and non-religious people.
Floats on Thursday depict Jesus being tied to the column and the Virgin of the Rosary. Drums and hymn-like songs accompany the parades today. There are 5 parades out on this night (that’s 10 different tronos) best viewing is by the Cuesta del Carmen for the ‘rise of the throne’ section of the parade, or on Calle de las Tiendas.
Don’t miss Los Estudiantes leave their starting point in Casa Hermandad at the end of Calle San Francisco and loop round to Plaza Constitucion.
Good Friday
Processions: Vigias, Amor y Caridad, Cristo del Mar y Pena, Angustias Coronada, Sepulcro.
The culmination of the week’s celebration is on Good Friday, when the floats depict the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the sombre atmosphere of the crowd is palpable. Other floats include Christ’s body being taken down from the cross and it being placed in the tomb. The atmosphere takes on a more religious feel today as people dress in mourning and a large number of penitents accompany the floats. Onlookers can be heard repenting their sins and making promises to be kept over the coming year.
Don’t miss La Legion parading throughout the town, a great place to see them is on the cross roads of Calle de los Tiendas and Calle Salvador Rueda or in Plaza Carmelitas which is earlier on in the evening (usually around 18.30hrs)
Holy Saturday
Procession: Soledad.
The Virgin Mary dressed in black leaves San Francisco church in silence to candlelit. This is the most atmospheric and sombre of the processions. It begins at 1.10am and finishes around 3.00am. Once the virgin has left the church the penitents can be heard praying or singing. See it at Plaza San Francisco.
Easter Sunday
Procession: Resucitado.
The atmosphere on Easter Sunday is joyous. A very different affair from the parades of Thursday and Friday, in all honestly it feels a bit flat after the build up. The main float is a sculpture of ‘glorious and triumphant Jesus in his resurrection’. The best place to watch proceedings today is at the end – the Church of San Juan where white doves are released into the sky.
Things to Look Out For During Semana Santa in Velez
There are six things a visitor to Velez during Semana Santa should try to experience.
1. Firstly, listen out for a saeta during the processions. A saeta is an acoustic religious song (often in a Flamenco style – incorporating elements of the seguiriya) frequently sung from a balcony. The crowd are usually brought to a silence and the procession is often paused while the saeta is sung. It’s a bit of luck as to if you get to hear a saetas in Velez-Malaga but in prior years they have been at Hospital San Juan de Dios, Calle Poeta Joaquin Lobato and Calle San Francisco.
2. The second rather special experience is rose petals being thrown from the balconies over floats carrying the Virgin. This is a beautiful display in homage to the Virgin Mary and makes for a fantastic photo opportunity. The day this happens changes every year but it usually takes place on Calle Poeta Joaquin Lobato.
3. The third thing to do while experiencing a veleño Semana Santa is eat the typical dishes – torrijas and ajobacalao. There’s a competition each year in Velez for the best ajobacalao which is a salt cod and garlic paste served with bread – look out for the trophy in bars and shops. Not to be taken at the same time as ajobacalao but delicious as a dessert or afternoon pick-me-up are torrijas. These are bread soaked in milk or wine and covered with sugar or syrup.
4. Our fourth tips is see the Regulares or La Legion parade throughout the town.
5. Fifthly, watch Los Estudiantes on Thursday charge up the hill C/ Romero Pozo carrying a huge float.
6. Finally, take advantage of being able to get very close to the processions. Don’t stay in one place, move around the town. See the tronos turn, climb up hills, take on steps, meet other tronos and see how the velenos react.
To find out this year’s routes and times see our itinerary here.
*Photo credits to Gonzalo De Quinta and Mi Velez-Malaga
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