The Guide to Holy Week in Andalusia

The Holy Week represents a sense of the theatrical amidst the historic streets of the oldest city in the Occident, a sense that is palpable all over the city. It is a time for prayer both inside and outside the temples, and for constantly searching the sky in the hope that good weather will prevail during this special week, unique in the calendars and in the hearts of the confraternities. From the beginning of Lent, the brotherhoods’ houses of residence are faced with days of frenetic activity in which the governing bodies, teams of mayordomía, youth groups, foremen and women, float-bearers, acolytes and brothers are all consumed with the same passion.
The profound and far-reaching influence of the carnival doesn’t prevent the spirit of Holy Week in Cadiz from being kept alive all the year round. You wait with all five senses on hold, through all the many meetings that are necessary to the promotion of the event throughout the year. All that until suddenly, one day, you get the feeling that Holy Week is on its way, a feeling that is palpable in every nook and cranny of the city: the flowers bloom with the welcome kiss of spring; the temples fill with the aroma of incense that warn of the celebrations of the worshipped; the cone-shaped headdresses come out of wardrobes or are collected from tucked-away speciality shops; a mother prepares the tunic for her son, who closes his eyes every night and counts the days left before the prayers, the laughter and also the tears behind the anonymity of a mask.
From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, thirty brotherhoods will come out onto the streets of Cadiz, to pay their respects to the altars as represented by their ceremonial platforms. The principal motivation for this demonstration of faith is to make penitence in the Santa Iglesia Cathedral, although the sight of the statues with their devotees symbolise those moments of silent prayer; the orations sung from the balconies, the noise of the chains that chafe the ankles of those behind the leading statues, the trumpets, cornets and drums of the marching bands, all tramping through the busy thronged streets in procession as they enter the streets of their neighbourhood.