CELEBRATE SEMANA SANTA

Apr. 4th, 2022

Easter is an important religious festival in Mallorca, and Holy Week, or Semana Santa, is full of rituals. It all begins on Palm Sunday, April 10th this year. Before then, you’ll find beautifully woven white palm leaves from Elche in southeast Spain for sale in florists and at the Rambla flower stalls in Palma. After these palms have been blessed at church, people hang them at their homes above doors or on balconies.

The evening of Holy – or Maundy – Thursday, the largest and most solemn of the week’s processions – Crist de la Sang – takes place in Palma. For a memorable experience, join the people lining the streets to watch members of the religious brotherhoods in their penitentiary robes and tall, pointed hoods as they process slowly through the city.

Christ’s Passion is re-enacted at midday on Good Friday in front of Palma Cathedral and, in the evening, the Holy Burial procession leaves Sant Francesc church. The most moving of re-enactments happens by torchlight in the town of Pollensa, when thousands gather in silence to watch the Descent from the Cross and see a statue of Christ carried down all 365 of the Calvari steps.

The solemn events of Semana Santa end with celebrations of the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Members of the Spanish royal family often attend the Mass in Palma cathedral. Another Easter Sunday tradition is the ‘Procession of the Meeting’ – depicting the joyful reunion of the resurrected Jesus with his mother, Mary.

It’s useful to know that Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Monday are all public holidays in Mallorca. Have a Happy Easter holiday in Mallorca.