Holy Week in Valladolid

Holy Week of Valladolid is one of the main cultural and religious events, and tourist attractions, of Valladolid and the province during Holy Week. Its polychrome sculptures are amongst those with the greatest artistic value of the world, mainly thanks to sculptors like Juan de Juni and Gregorio Fernández, active during the period in which the city was the imperial court. The National Sculpture Museum of the city yields a total of 42 images (distributed in the corresponding pasos) for the processions, as a unique museum in Spain. The Holy Week in Valladolid has been known as one that depicts the Passion with great fidelity, rigor and detail.

In addition to the artistic and catechetical value of its religious imagery, the Week is characterized by devotion, sobriety, silence (different from processions of Andalusia) and respect for the brotherhoods and the public, and by unique acts such as the "General Procession of the Sacred Passion of the Redeemer" and "Sermon of the Seven Words" in Plaza Mayor, which recalls the autos de fe of the 16th century. For all these reasons, this celebration was declared of International Tourist Interest in 1980 (the first Holy Week celebrated in Spain to hold such declaration), and in 2014 started the paperwork to gain recognition as an intangible cultural heritage.

The 20 brotherhoods (5 were historical and the rest were created from 1920) of the city had a total of 59 different pasos, which are described within the brotherhood owner of each paso, and held a total of 33 processions (to which must be added the "Proclamation" and "Sermon of the Seven Words").

The processions begin the Friday before of Good Friday and will happen until the Sunday of Resurrection. Hundreds of penitents or cofrades take part on the parades, either carrying the pasos or walking the old streets of the city with crosses, flags or candles. Thousands of people, locals and visitors attend the events. The silence is only interrupted by the sound of drums and trumpets. The pasos are the core of the festival. They consist of a wooden sculpture or group of sculptures that narrates a scene from the Passion of Christ. They are carried by porters in a platform or staves by the members of Brotherhoods. The processions are organized by hermandades and cofradías (religious brotherhoods). Members precede the pasos dressed in penitential robes with capirotes, (tall, pointed hoods with eye-holes). The capirotes were designed so the faithful could repent in anonymity, without being recognised as self-confessed sinners. Each brotherhood has its own colors, that are seen in the costumes of the members, to distinguish them from other brotherhoods.

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