is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Friday of Sorrows, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursdayor, as it is called in the Catholic Church, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. It does not include Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem

Maundy Thursday It commemorates the Maundy and Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles

Good Friday it commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary.

Easter it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Holy Week in Spain is the annual commemoration of the Passion of Jesus Christ celebrated by Catholic religious brotherhoods and fraternities that perform penance processions on the streets of almost every Spanish city and town during the last week of Lent, the week immediately before Easter.

The procession of throne/float, lifelike painted wooden sculptures of individual scenes of the events that happened between Jesus' entry in Jerusalem and his burial, or images of the Virgin Mary showing restained grief for the torture and killing of her son.

every brotherhood carries magnificent "Pasos" or floats with sculptures that depict different scenes from the gospels related to the Passion of Christ or the Sorrows of Virgin Mary.

Nazarenos wear penitential robe in the processions. This garment consists in a tunic, a hood with conical tip (capirote) used to conceal the face of the wearer, and sometimes a cloak. The exact colors and forms of these robes depend on the particular procession. The robes were widely used in the medieval period for penitents, who could demonstrate their penance while still masking their identity. These nazarenos carry processional candles or rough-hewn wooden crosses, may walk the city streets barefoot, and, in some places may carry shackles and chains on their feet as penance.

Cristo más antiguo: Cristo de la Vera+Cruz (siglo XVI) de las Reales Cofradías Fusionadas, que procesiona el Jueves Santo. A veces se considera como el Cristo más antiguo al de Ánimas y Ciegos (siglo XVII), debido a que el de la Vera+Cruz fue recompuesto después de los trágicos sucesos de 1931.

Virgen más antigua: María Santísima de la Esperanza, del siglo XVII. Cabe señalar que la imagen ha sido modificada considerablemente desde su parcial destrucción en los sucesos de 1931.

Trono de Cristo con más portadores: el del Santísimo Cristo de la Sangre, portado por 220 hombres de trono.3

Trono de Virgen con más portadores: el de María Santísima de la Paloma, portado por 280 hombres de trono.3

Corporación con más nazarenos: Estudiantes con más de 1000 nazarenos.

Corporación con menos nazarenos: Santa Cruz con 105 en una única sección. Corporación con el recorrido más largo: Nueva Esperanza, que pasa en la calle 13

horas y cuarto (15:45-5:00) o incluso más, por los retrasos a causa del desgaste de los hombres de trono.

Corporación con el recorrido más corto: Resucitado que pasa 4 horas y cuarto en la calle (10:15-14:30).

Corporación con salida más tardía: Expiración, que hace su salida a partir de las 23:30 de la noche (debido a su lento ritmo se suele retrasar)

Corporación con encierro más tardío: Esperanza, que hace comienza su encierro a las 05:30 de la mañana. Cuando termina de entrar el cortejo suelen ser más de las 7 de la mañana.

Corporación con salida y encierro más tempranos: Pollinica, que hace su salida a las 09:50 de la mañana y se encierra a las 14:25 de la tarde del Domingo de Ramos.

Corporación más antigua: Vera+Cruz, que data del año 1505. Corporación más joven (agrupada): Dulce Nombre, que realiza su primera salida por el

recorrido oficial en el año 2003. Manto de Virgen de mayor longitud: Los mantos de procesión de Ntra. Sra. de la

Esperanza Coronada, María Stma. de Consolación y Lágrimas, María Stma. de Nueva Esperanza y María Stma. de los Dolores Coronada, que miden entre ocho y nueve metros, se consideran los más largos de la Semana Santa malagueña.

Cofradía brotherhood

Nazareno penitent/Nazarene

Trono: throne float

Bearers: varal

Spain is especially renowned for its Holy Week traditions or Semana Santa. The celebration of Holy Week regarding popular piety relays almost exclusively in the processions of the brotherhoods or fraternities. These associations have their origins in the Middle Age, but a number of them were created during the Baroque Period, inspired by the Counterreformation and also during the 20th and 21st centuries. The membership is usually open to any Catholic person and family tradition is an important element to become a member or "brother" (hermano).

Some major differences between Spanish regions are noticeable in this events: Holy Week sees its most glamorous celebrations in the region of Andalusia, particularly in Málaga and Seville, while those of Castile and León see the more sombre and solemn processions, typified by Semana Santa at Zamora and Valladolid. This is a religious holiday.

A common feature in Spain is the almost general usage of the nazareno or penitential robe for some of the participants in the processions. This garment consists in a tunic, a hood with conical tip (capirote) used to conceal the face of the wearer, and sometimes a cloak. The exact colors and forms of these robes depend on the particular procession. The robes were widely

used in the medieval period for penitents, who could demonstrate their penance while still masking their identity. These nazarenos carry processional candles or rough-hewn wooden crosses, may walk the city streets barefoot, and, in some places may carry shackles and chains on their feet as penance. In some areas, sections of the participants wear dress freely inspired by the uniforms of the Roman Legion.[1]

The other common feature is that every brotherhood carries magnificent "Pasos" or floats with sculptures that depict different scenes from the gospels related to the Passion of Christ or the Sorrows of Virgin Mary. Many of these floats are art pieces created by Spanish artist such as Gregorio Fernandez, Juan de Mesa, Martínez Montañés o Mariano Benlliure. Brotherhoods have owned and preserved these "pasos" for centuries in some cases. Usually, the "Pasos" are accompanied by Marching bands performing "Marchas procesionales" a specific type of compositions, devoted to the images and fraternities.