Five days of passion in Granada

This report wanted to tell the best of Granada's Holy Week from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday, but Rafael Troyano, editor-in-chief of Radio Granada Cadena SER, and one of its great experts, affectionately raised his voice against that time frame. “Holy Week in Granada is much more than from Thursday to Sunday. It long ago became a Sunday-to-Sunday show, eight full days. The first of them with a very, very Granada flavor, until Holy Wednesday. You should not leave those days aside and especially Holy Wednesday.” He urged us to extend the days and listen to Troyano because, definitely, he is right. So the tour that follows is now a walk through the best of Holy Week in the Andalusian city from Wednesday to Sunday.

For those who are believers and faithful followers of this religious and social festivity, Holy Week began a long time ago, with events, proclamations and rehearsals as prolegomena to the moment in which the first procession and the first step set foot on the street. In Granada, this occurs on Palm Sunday at four in the afternoon. From then on, 34 processional parades until six in the afternoon on Easter Sunday. Something that this year the rain will create impediments - already on the first Sunday four of the five trips to the street were canceled due to rainfall. In any case, there are eight full days in which everyone lives Holy Week in their own way and with the intensity and ardor that they decide. Nazarenes, mantillas and costaleros are the central characters who are joined by Catholic believers, excited walkers, gaping tourists and, of course, enthusiasts of this corner or that music band.

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They are all fundamental characters in this series that, here, has five acts, from Wednesday, March 27 to Sunday, March 31, and is narrated by three perfect experts: Rafael Troyano, Laura García Padilla — Early Childhood Education teacher, athletics coach, sister of the Brotherhood of the Holy Cena, of which her grandfather was co-founder, and “granaína de corazón”, as she defines herself—, and Luis Javier López, journalist for Canal Sur, presenter of

El llamador de Granada

, a program dedicated entirely to Holy Week, of which he was the preacher in 2023 and someone who, like Troyano and García, lives it intensely year after year.

Facing Holy Week in Granada, like others, requires some starting points that must be assumed. The first is that movement through the city becomes difficult and tiresome, especially in the hours before the processions. Everything is crowded, some accesses are blocked hours before by people who are already located or by the official race, in the center of the city, and we have to look for alternative routes. Therefore, the first requirement is foresight and patience. On the other hand, Granada is a city with hills and, even more so, the Albaicín, so each person must measure their strength. Finally, enjoying the best sites requires having the ability to wait several hours in one place. Getting a good location requires arriving before everyone else and that is not a matter of minutes, but of hours, which you have to know how to stand on your feet. With this, the essence of the processions is within reach. But if you don't have that patience, foresight or desire to go from top to bottom, it's not a problem either. You may not see the processions in the most emblematic, emotional or beautiful places. Enjoy it in a different way, on the wider streets, in the central areas and assume fewer

obligations

. Holy Week offers plenty of emotions for everyone, anywhere.

Holy Wednesday, day of the Gypsies and Sacromonte

The procession of the Gypsies, in the Granada neighborhood of Sacromonte.FERMÍN RODRÍGUEZ

Of the five processions on Holy Wednesday, that of the Gypsies – Santísimo Cristo del Consuelo and María Santísima del Sacromonte – is one of the most attractive and, in fact, has peculiarities that are not found in other places. Laura García Padilla begins by referring to the imagery: “It is spectacular.” With 11 hours on the street, it is one of the longest penance stations in Granada. The last section, back to the Sacromonte Abbey, where it ends, from the start of the Chapiz slope, under the Alhambra, requires almost five hours. They are barely two kilometers that develop between dozens of bonfires that illuminate their passage and frequent interruptions by arrows. And, of course, for the bustle that accompanies the brotherhood. García has several points on the route that she likes to see. The first is on the Chapiz slope. Then, she joins the noise that accompanies along the Sacromonte. “Seeing the passage of the Cristo de los Gitanos and the Virgen del Sacromonte with the Alhambra in the background is spectacular,” concludes the brother.

Holy Thursday, the Albaicín takes the scene

“It is the day of the Albaicín par excellence. Four of the five processions of the day leave from this neighborhood,” summarizes Luis Javier López. The Albaicín is the neighborhood where the first Muslims settled and is the quintessential Arab neighborhood of the city. Located on one of the three hills of Granada, its urban structure is defined by the slopes, the narrowness of its streets and the countless small squares that appear here and there. Magnificent ingredients for Easter. López, in full agreement with Troyano and García, chooses “three cardinal points: the Aurora, the Concha and the Star, with each of them starting from one point that is more emblematic.”

La Concha—María Santísima de la Concepción—departs on Holy Thursday at 4:45 p.m. It is a brotherhood usually associated “with bullfighters and the Peña flamenca la Platería, very close by, and the oldest in Spain,” explains the Canal Sur journalist. García likes the burial of La Concha, “with the Alhambra in the background. When they lock themselves in, they always play beautiful music that, with the ringing of the canopy bells, turn the moment into something magical,” he describes.

Procession of the brotherhood of Penance of Our Father Jesus of Love and Surrender and María Santísima de la Concepción in the Albaicín, on its way out with the Alhambra in the background.FERMÍN RODRÍGUEZ

The Aurora, the largest procession of brothers, mantillas and waitresses of Granada's Holy Week, leaves at 5:30 p.m. in the Plaza de San Miguel Bajo, from where a completely unique itinerary begins due to the narrowness of the whitewashed streets and the slope. , with a first emblematic place on the way: Grifos de San José. “The canopy passage passes with great care by the group of costaleros who, when turning, must avoid balconies and the narrowness of the houses,” López recounts the moment. For his part, García highlights the music band that accompanies the Aurora: the Despojado band. Troyano warns, however, that to enjoy this step "you have to go many hours before because everyone is looking for that place and the surroundings are very narrow." He advises that anyone who cannot go up, or cannot find a place, should go to the Carrera del Darro, “a fantastic place for the entire afternoon of Holy Thursday that also allows you to have a drink in the many taverns there, along the around Plaza Nueva or in the official race area.” Because the

beer

, snack or dinner is also something important in this whole ceremony.

Twelve at night, at the changeover from Thursday to Friday, is the departure time of Silence, which celebrates its centenary in 2024. It processions without a band so, without music, accompanied by a hoarse drum and with the street lighting fading as it passes, it is undoubtedly a spectacle of senses and sounds. The procession locks itself in the church of San Pedro and San Pablo, on Paseo de los Tristes, at 4:15 in the morning. This brotherhood has one of the most relevant crucified figures of the Spanish Baroque, coming from the gouge of José de Mora, whose death marks 300 years, remembers López. He is an impressive Christ of which the copy is usually processed due to the great heritage value of the original. This year, after an assessment by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage, the image that will go out on the street will be the original.

Good Friday, the Realejo neighborhood and its 'greñúa'

“Any visitor, believer or not, has to be at three o'clock in the afternoon in the Plaza del Campo del Príncipe, at the Cristo de los Favores,” explains Troyano, also with the agreement of López and García. That day and at that time, “more than 20,000 people pray for the death of Christ at the same time in a display of unparalleled faith and beauty,” explains Troyano. The Cristo de los Favores, a statue that has been in that square for four centuries, is accompanied by Soledad, a sorrowful one at the foot of the cross, without Christ, who comes from the nearby church of Santo Domingo minutes before the scheduled time. At exactly three o'clock then a ritual begins that, López assures, “is unique in Andalusian Holy Week, a public prayer. “There are similar things in some areas of Castilla, but they are not the same.” El Realejo, the Jewish neighborhood of the city, is a magnificent place to, after prayer, try to find a place - a complicated task - in one of the many nearby bars and get supplies because it is still very late. For those who have eaten before, there is always the option of coffee, cake and rest, not difficult in Granada, a city with a wide range of pastry shops to drop into.

Participants in the procession of the Brotherhood of the Santísimo Cristo de los Favores and María Santísima de la Misericordia Coronada (Greñua) by Realejo.FERMÍN RODRÍGUEZ

For Friday afternoon, Troyano's recommendation is broad: “Any Friday afternoon procession, really. But perhaps I would like to recommend leaving Soledad from the monastery of San Jerónimo, a beautiful and not very crowded environment. The image of Soledad is beautiful, as is the brief exit through the monastery.

The three now remember the

greñúa,

the Most Holy Mary of Mercy Crowned who processions with the Christ of Favors. “There is no doubt that it is one of the most numerous and beloved in Granada,” says López, who clarifies that, although its name is usually associated with its long hair, it is called that because its church is in “the Realejo neighborhood, inhabited for a long time by the Jews, who were called

greñúos

.” Sepulcher, from the church of Santa Ana, takes out two centuries-old images on Friday evening: a recumbent Christ by Manuel Valdés from 1675 and a virgin by José de Mora, from 1671. García, always attentive to that intrinsic element of Holy Week, as is the music, recommends paying attention to the band that accompanies the Cristo de los Favores, in this case the band La Pasión de Linares.

Holy Saturday, Alhambra afternoon

Saturday is the day of a single procession. In exchange, the Alhambra enters the scene, setting the stage for its forests and centuries of history. At 5:30 p.m., the procession of Our Lady of Coronated Angustias sets foot on the street, with its canonical seat in the parish of Santa María de la Alhambra, behind the palace of Charles V. The image is dated 1750 and the made by Torcuato Ruiz del Peral, of the late Baroque and last great sculptor of the classical Granada school. As López explains, “the brotherhood has a first-rate artistic heritage and not only because of the exceptional passage of the virgin, which includes all the columns of the patio of the lions in the vent, the area that

covers

the costaleros. It is a wonderful work of goldsmithing from the 1920s. “It has many other details related to the Alhambra.” Furthermore, he adds, the habit of the Nazarenes is one of the most luxurious during Holy Week. After their departure, which can only be enjoyed in the front row by invitation, as well as their passage through the Puerta de la Justicia, the brotherhood begins a descent through the forests of the Alhambra that offers some beautiful images. García is betting on seeing it also on the way up, for example, on the Gomérez slope, the beginning of the last stretch back to his church.

Easter Sunday, children are the protagonists

The children's procession of the Facundillos, in Granada.FERMÍN RODRÍGUEZ

Three processions close the eight days of processions: Resurrection, Risen and the Facundillos. The latter is the most special, with the children occupying the entire space, costaleros and nazarenos. Thus, a small march carried by children walks through Realejo and the official race to the noise of the clay bells that the children also carry and ring tirelessly, which turns this Sunday morning into a very special moment for families. Anyone can join because you do not have to belong to the brotherhood or wear any habit.

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