Easter in Mallorca

Photo: freshandeazy.com

Mallorca’s capital, Palma, is preparing for Easter as ‘Semana Santa’, Holy Week, begins on Palm Sunday, the 13th. Already, the flower stalls in the Rambla are selling intricately woven white palm leaves, which locals buy and take to church on Palm Sunday to be blessed. After that, you’ll see these palms displayed over the doors or on balconies of people’s homes.

The evening of Holy Thursday, Palma hosts the largest and most solemn of the week’s several evening processions – Crist de la Sang. For a memorable and moving experience, join the people lining the streets to watch members of the religious brotherhoods in their penitentiary robes and tall, pointed hoods as they process slowly for hours through the city to muffled drumbeats.

On Good Friday at midday, a traditional re-enactment of Christ’s Passion is held on the steps of Palma Cathedral. Outside Palma, the town of Pollença hosts the most moving and memorable of Mallorca’s Easter traditions, the ‘davallament’, in which a statue of the deceased Christ is removed from the cross at dusk and carried in silence by torchlight down the Calvari’s 365 steps to Pollença’s Virgen de los Ángeles church.

‘Semana Santa’ ends with celebrations of the resurrection on Easter Sunday, including Mass in Palma Cathedral and the tradition of the ‘Procession of the Meeting’ – depicting the joyful reunion of the resurrected Jesus with his mother, Mary. Towns across Mallorca host their own ‘Semana Santa’ events, albeit on a smaller scale.

Holy Thursday and Good Friday are public holidays in Mallorca.