Semana Santa (from Start to Finish) in Malaga Spain

Given that Holy Week is finishing up right now, I thought I would share our full Semana Santa experience in Malaga from 2024. We were in Malaga for an entire month and were able to observe all the preparations for Semana Santa and then witness many of the processions. Our Airbnb was located in a neighborhood adjacent to Old Town. Our neighborhood parish church was a few block away and the Brotherhood House was just a little further. Our Airbnb was located on a corner in between two procession routes and we were able to observe several processions from our rooftop. And then of course, we witnessed many from the ground level as well

Photo 1 shows the two icons of our parish church in their yearlong resting place inside the church

Photo 2 &3 shows the early stages of one Paso (float) at our local Brotherhood House - the Brothers were always kind enough to invite me and show me what was going on

Photo 4 shows the Traslado in our neighborhood. This is when the icons are moved from the church to the Brotherhood House for placement on the Pasos. It's a huge event and features processions on a smaller (but still impressive) scale compared to Semana Santa

Photo 5 shows the finished Paso in our neighborhood - this one with the Virgin. There are always two Pasos per Brotherhood houses - one with the Virgin and another featuring a scene from the Passion of Christ.

Photo 6 shows a Paso leaving the giant doors of a Brotherhood House to great fanfare and crush of crowds. This one features the Last Supper.

Photo 7 & 8 shows the Nazarenos for a couple of different Processions. Each procession includes hundreds of parishioners dressed in these traditional clothes (as well as three different marching bands playing solemn music)

The next several photos show images from several of the processions we observed through the week, including some from our rooftop.

The final image shows two Pasos on display inside a church on Easter Sunday. This particular Passion Paso is significant on Easter Sunday because it is the only one of all the many Semana Santa Pasos that shows a resurrected Christ.

All in all an amazing experience. And even more meaningful since we were able to observe it all evolve over several weeks