Holy Days in Alicante | Easter Week and others

HOLY DAYS IN ALICANTE - HOLY WEEK, FESTIVALS AND RELIGIOUS EVENTS TRAVEL GUIDE

HOLY WEEK IN ALICANTE

HOLY WEEK - ART AND DEVOTION IN THE STREETS

Dear Friends,

Most cities boast a certain characteristic feature which is easily recognised by a visitor to the city. We might say that a visitor's first impression of Alicante would be that it is a warm, sunny; attractive city and an ideal place to spend a holiday. The quality and the number of beaches in Alicante might make us think only about Summer holidays -but we would be mistaken- the sun shines all year long in Alicante and its mild climate makes it an attractive place at any time of the year.

The Virgin of Solitude, Alicante Holy Week
The Virgin of Solitude

In Spring, when the fields and orchards are in bloom, Holy Week combines the artistry of the effigies, which are carried through the narrow streets and wide avenues, with the devotion of the faithful and the ludic aspect of events where the religious and the profane live in harmony. The spirit of Alicante has always attracted people from many different places to set up their homes here and to live in healthy; heterogeneous harmony. This same diversity is found in Holy Week in Alicante -from the simplicity of the inland towns, to the coloured Baroque style of the South, the plain, simple effigy or the flower-covered throne to the classical sculptures and groups of modern sculpture, broken by the emotive lament of the "saeta", the Flamenco verse sung at Holy Week processions.

Holy Week in Alicante, Spain

To trace the origins of Holy Week, we must go back to the times when our ancestors embraced Christianity and when they reconquered the lands from Islam after the Arab invasion. At the time, the population had settled on the slopes of Mount Benacantil, under the protection of Santa Barbara Castle. It is known that in 1241, orders were given for an Arab mosque outside the town to be purified and dedicated to St. Nicholas of Bari, the saint of the day on which Alicante was conquered. This was also the case in 1264 with the Church of Santa Maria, which is also built on the site of a former mosque. On 4 July 1747, King Ferdinand VI approved certain regulations for the correct use, management and administration of Alicante's income, establishing the amount to be contributed by the town to the cost of Lent and Holy Week, for preachers, wax for the processions, etc.

THE FRATERNITIES AND BROTHERHOODS

With respect to the formal establishment of fraternities and brotherhoods, there is a record from the early XVII century of one called "De la Purisima Sangre de Jesus" (The Brotherhood of the Pure Blood of Christ), whose holy image of" La Virgen de la Soledad" (The Virgin of Solitude) is of ancient origin and was -and still is- known as "La Marinera" (the Sailorno-man), since fishermen invoked her protection from Berber pirates. This effigy leaves from the "Convento de la Sangre" (Convent of the Holy Blood) on Wednesday of Holy Week. Last century, in the eighties, the fraternities were the "Descendimiento" (the Descent), "La Virgen de la Esperanza" (The Virgin of Hope) and "Jesus atado a la columna" (Christ bound to the column). Other processions find their origins in this century, with the founding of different fraternities between 1917 -"Cristo del Mar" (Christ of the Sea) and "Nuestra Sehora de los Dolores con San Juan de la Palma" (Our Lady of Dolours with Saint John) and 1992- "Stabat Mater" and "Cristo del Hallazgo" (Christ Discovered).

The Descent, Holly Week, Alicante, Spain
The Descent

Curiously enough, although the latter only recently appeared on the streets of Alicante, it was found on a Galician beach around the year 1777 and has been attributed to Salzillo. In the Holy Week processions of 1995, the effigy of "El Resucitado" (The Risen Christ) appeared for the first time, accompanied by its fraternities and brotherhoods. In recent years, the High Council has brought a more dynamic air to the processions, helped undoubtedly by the artistic value of certain religious floats and other special features of Holy Week in Alicante which distinguish it from other better-known Holy Week celebrations, also worth seeing. This increase is evident when we see in 1997 two new processions participating on the night of Holy Monday.

THE PROCESSIONS 1