Traditions and Customs – Semana Santa

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Spain –  Each year with the arrival of spring, all the corners of Spain exploit the oldest traditions and customs, Holy Week, and for this reason, Correos, issues four stamps dedicated to four Spanish towns that live those days with fervent admiration.

Cáceres: Holy Week in Cáceres was declared of International Tourist Interest in 2011. One of the oldest brotherhoods, the Brotherhood of the Black Christ, is surrounded by mystery and legend, as they say it is related to the foundation in 1319, the Order of Christ by 20 Templars. The seal includes the image of the passage of the Lord Camino del Calvario, a beautiful composition, which includes the Fallen Christ and, beside him, the Holy Woman Veronica wiping his face.

Zamora: Holy Week of Zamora has been declared of International Tourist Interest since 1986. Silence, solemnity, only broken by the sound of a choir, steps or a prayer. Also music has its protagonism in this city, where you hear pieces like Thalberg’s funeral march, or the song of the miserere. The stamp shows the image of a lantern illuminated by a candle, object that is carried in some of the processions the by people who accompany the passage.

Malaga: the sun, the sea and the art that runs the streets these days, have made it one of the favorite cities to live these holidays. In Malaga we live the Holy Week with joy, with bustle, with cheers, with spontaneous arrows and applause to the passage of the images. Neighbors like those of the Nueva Málaga neighborhood, they carry for hours and accompany their Nazareno del Perdón and the Virgin of Nueva Esperanza for more than 12 hours without showing fatigue or weakness, with the whole neighborhood cheering by their side. The stamp gathers the lord of Malaga, Our Father Jesus Cautivo, that every Holy Monday Málaga parades his robe through the streets of the city.

Bajo Aragón: Albalate del Arzobispo, Alcañiz, Alcorisa, Andorra, Calanda, Híjar, Puebla de Híjar, Samper de Calanda and Urrea de Gaén, are the towns that make up the Drum and Bombo Route. The tradition is to start playing the drum and the bombo, at a certain time. This beginning is called “breaking the hour”, and begins in almost all the towns on Holy Thursday at 12 at night while in Calanda is at 12 noon on Good Friday. From that moment the rhythmic beat of drums and drums does not stop until Holy Saturday. An illustration of that moment is reproduced on the stamp.
Carmen Álvarez Casanova

Issue Date: 19.04.2017
Process: Offset
Size: Stamp Size: 35 x 24.5 mm, Booklet Size: 166 x 63 mm
Values: 1€