Catholics worldwide marked Holy Week with diverse traditions reflecting their unique histories and cultures, according to an April 2 report. Images released by Reuters showed celebrations ranging from processions in Spain to reenactments of Christ’s passion in a prison yard in El Salvador.
The observance of Holy Week holds special meaning for many communities as it unites people through shared remembrance of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. The week is seen as a time when different customs blend faith with local culture.
In Mexico, the Yoreme Indigenous community began Holy Week with the “Adoration of the Virgin of Guadalupe,” a practice not part of official Catholic liturgy but deeply rooted in local tradition. This ceremony, which includes devotional dances and masked performances such as “la danza del venado,” has been celebrated for over a century and demonstrates the integration of Marian devotion into indigenous rituals.
In Spain, confraternities like the Hermandad de las Angustias in Ronda led Good Friday processions through historic streets, carrying images depicting Christ’s suffering and Our Lady of Sorrows. These processions are not only religious events but also important cultural expressions that connect participants to their heritage.
Malta saw around 80 parish-organized processions on Good Friday, with some penitents walking barefoot or on their knees. A large-scale Passion Play titled “Il Mixja” was staged outside Verdala Palace in Siggiewi. Alan Fenech, director of the production, said it was designed to “make those who attend feel as if they were part of the crowd witnessing the last two days in the life of Jesus prior to his resurrection.”
In El Salvador’s La Esperanza prison, inmates prepared for a month to reenact the Stations of the Cross as part of their social readaptation program. The event echoed sentiments from meditations commissioned by Pope Francis during the pandemic: “Contemplating Calvary from behind bars is to believe that an entire life can be played out in a few moments, as happened to the good thief. All it takes is to fill those moments with truth: contrition for sins committed, the realization that death is not forever, (and) the certainty that Christ is the innocent man unjustly mocked.”
