Holy Week Procession, Mérida, 2013

March 30, 2013

Click to make the photos bigger.

A procession in celebration of Holy Week (Semana Santa as they call it around here), on one of the main streets of Mérida, Extremadura, Spain. 2013. A lot of the processions were cancelled this year due to the rain, but this one went ahead as usual.

Those hats (called Capirotes) have some unfortunate connotations in the US, but in reality they have absolutely nothing to do with racism, the KKK or anything else. The Spanish have been wearing them for several centuries for various religious ceremonies. These days, now that the Inquisition is over and there’s no more capital punishment or public shaming of heretics, they’re only worn (as far as I know) during Semana Santa.

Video coming soon…

In the meantime, here’s some info about Holy Week in Madrid. Enjoy!

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About the Author Daniel

How did I end up in Spain? Why am I still here almost 20 years later? Excellent questions. With no good answer... Anyway, at some point I became a blogger, bestselling author and contributor to Lonely Planet. So there's that. Drop me a line, I'm happy to hear from you.

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