Easter Week in Jaén
Easter Week in Jaén has a history, tradition, art, liturgy and popular religious fervour all of its own.
Its confraternities and brotherhoods are have a rich and precious history, and are an essential part of the cultural heritage of the city.
Easter Week in Jaén combines the sobriety of Castile with the splendour of Andalusia. The grandiose processions, solemn and colourful, and densely thronging crowds, convert the streets into prolongations of the churches. The atmosphere, the figures, churches, processions, penitents, escorts, mantillas… this huge undertaking in the city during Easter Week touches each and every one of its inhabitants.
The majesty and beauty of the sculptured figures in the processions are particularly noteworthy.
Times to watch
The moment of maximum splendour is during the early hours of Good Friday, with the start of the of one of the most eagerly awaited processions from the Cathedral : Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, popularly known as “El Abuelo” (the grandfather).
On Good Friday, Jaén , the “City of the Holy Face ” salutes the venerable Nazarene, accompanied by more than 7,000 penitents, and shudders in awe as it contemplates the encounter between Nuestro Padre Jesús with the Virgen de los Dolores. This is one of the most emotional moments of a demonstration of religious feeling which has been making its way around the streets of the city in the small hours of Good Friday for the last four centuries.
On a lighter gastronomic note, you have to try "the hornazo": bread with a hard-boiled egg inside.
And in the province...
In the province of Jaén, the Easter week celebrations in the towns of Alcalá la Real, Baeza, Linares, Martos, Torredonjimeno, Santisteban del Puerto and Úbeda are especially relevant.
They are all designated as Fiestas of Tourist Interest, which gives you an idea of their value and beauty.
