Holy Week in La Vila Joiosa

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a seriously big event in Spain. The processions of the hooded penitents in Sevilla and other Spanish cities are spectacular celebrations of faith. In La Vila Joiosa, despite not being its main or patron saint's festivities, has a long tradition in the municipality. In addition to the liturgical celebrations, the processions of the different images escorted by their respective brotherhoods mark the solemn nature of the Holy Week in La Vila Joiosa. Each procession is organised by a different “cofradia” or brotherhood. They start from various churches around La Vila and finish at the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in the Plaza de la Iglesia in the heart of the old town. A number of cofradias take part together, each with their own image carried on the shoulders of the faithful. The order of the images in the procession follows the Stations of the Cross. The procession halts at a series of altars around the old town, with an acapella hymn and a prayer at each one. The cofradía members wear long robes and many also wear the pointed hoods, known as capirotes, a symbol of repentance. There is something almost hypnotic about the rhythmic swaying of the Virgen carried on the shoulders of the costaleros, accompanied by the mournful notes of the band slow marching behind.