Holy Week in Valladolid

Holy Week in Valladolid
Procession in Plaza Mayor
Official nameSemana Santa de Valladolid
Observed byValladolid, Spain
TypeReligious, Historical, Cultural
SignificanceCommemoration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus
CelebrationsProcessions
BeginsPalm Sunday
EndsEaster Sunday
2023 dateApril 2 - April 9
2024 dateMarch 24 - March 31
2025 dateApril 13 - April 20
2026 dateMarch 29 - April 5
FrequencyAnnual
A Holy Week procession
Holy Week procession in the city
The Fifth Anxiety (La Quinta Angustia in Spanish), by Gregorio Fernández, Valladolid, 1625
Brotherhoods
Parade horses during the proclamation
Paso on the streets.
Members of different brotherhoods
At night
Lying Christ by Gregorio Fernández.
Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem
Meeting of the Virgin with her child in the street of the bitterness
Pasta of the penitent, is one of the foods that is typical of the Gastronomy of Holy Week. This cuisine is mainly composed of sweets, pastas, pastries, cakes and other desserts (see also: Cuisine of the province of Valladolid).

The Holy Week in Valladolid is one of the main tourist attractions, and cultural and religious events of Valladolid and the surrounding province during Holy Week in Spain. It boasts of renowned polychrome sculptures, created mainly by sculptors such as Juan de Juni and Gregorio Fernández,[1] who were active when the city served as the imperial court. The city's National Sculpture Museum has a total of 42 images (distributed in the corresponding pasos) for the processions.[2] The Holy Week in Valladolid is known to depict the Passion with great fidelity, rigor and detail.[3]

In addition to the artistic and catechetical (instructional) value of its religious imagery, the Week is characterized by devotion, sobriety, silence[4] and respect for the brotherhoods and the public, and by unique acts such as the "General Procession of the Sacred Passion of the Redeemer"[5] and "Sermon of the Seven Words" in the Plaza Mayor, which recalls the autos de fé (ritual of public penance) of the 16th century. For these reasons, this celebration was declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest in 1980 (the first Holy Week celebration in Spain to have such a designation), and in 2014 work began to have it recognized as a representation of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.[6]