Semana Santa procession in Benidorm

DURING Semana Santa – Easter week – most towns and cities across Spain have nightly processions and Benidorm is no exception. On Wednesday night heavy floats carrying an effigy of Jesus and the Virgin Mary were taken from the San Jaime church at the top of the hill and paraded around the streets of the Old Town.

Two symmetrical lines of ‘nazarenos’ escorted the floats – men wearing sinister looking long robes, veils and cone shaped hoods. The nazarenos belong to a brotherhood, each identified by the colour of the robes they wear – and this group was the oldest in Benidorm, founded in 1969.

They were symbolically chained together during the procession with hoods signifying the mourning of the death of Jesus Christ – to be removed on Easter Sunday, in celebration of the resurrection.

Following the nazarenos were women wearing black, carrying candles and behind them, a band to which the entire procession slowly marched.