Holy Week in Spain

Holy Week in Spain is a work of art of gigantic proportions, not to mention the work created and exported to Hispanic America, whose liturgical and aesthetic foundations date back to the 16th century. It is an expression of the so-called Spanish Baroque, characterized by its drama, exuberance and complexity, which developed during a period of great richness and splendor, especially from the 17th century, and known as the Golden Age or Golden Century.

Over the years, despite a convinced atheism, I have come to accept naturally the idea that the influence of Catholicism in Spain permeates our collective morality and is an intrinsic part of our popular culture. Holy Week is in this last aspect an unquestionable manifestation.

After the birth of our third child and after four years living in London, we moved to a small town in La Mancha called Alcazar de San Juan. We think that here the child will be able to grow up with more freedom and quality of life than in London. Unlike Bilbao, where I was born and raised, in Alcazar de San Juan Holy Week is celebrated with a veneration that I knew existed, but had never experienced firsthand.

From the photographic point of view, and since the processions take place in the street, it has been a very satisfactory experience. I have not sought at any time the "pretty picture", it is not my style. My objective has been to try to capture through the camera and the processing of the images the emotion, veneration and transcendence that I could perceive in the atmosphere during the passing of the processions.

I am already in waiting mode for next year's Semana Santa. Let's see if we have better luck with the weather than this 2024 since more than half of the scheduled processions had to be suspended due to wind and rain caused by a squall that some meteorologists somewhere named “Nelson”. The sadness to the point of tears of some people for not being able to go out in procession was touching. I wondered how they reconciled these adverse weather circumstances that prevented them from representing the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for which they have been preparing for a whole year, with their Catholic faith.