Sepúlveda's Holy Week
Sepúlveda's Holy Week stands out for its beauty and for the role played by the town's religious brotherhoods.
Sepúlveda is one of the most interesting towns to visit year-round, but it is perhaps during Holy Week that it becomes most fascinating. This town is home to Segovia’s oldest church, El Salvador.
The combination of its history and incomparable architectural beauty with the contemplative spirit of its people during Holy Week gives this town a special charm.
Some of its processions have recently been revived. This is the case with the La Borriquilla Procession, revived in 2008, which marks the beginning of Holy Week in Sepúlveda. The procession departs from the Church of Saints Justo and Pastor (now the Museo de los Fueros), where the palm branches are blessed, and then proceeds along Barbacana Street and through the plaza until it reaches the Church of San Bartolomé, where the Holy Mass for Palm Sunday is celebrated.
Before the Holy Thursday Procession, the Lord’s Supper and the Washing of the Feet are celebrated at the Shrine of the Virgin of La Peña. The Holy Thursday Procession then sets out from this shrine. The Church of the Virgin of La Peña is the one that carries the largest number of sculptures in the procession, including a magnificent 17th-century Pietà, an Ecce Homo, and the Simon of Cyrene.
After winding through the town’s streets, the procession returns to the Shrine of the Virgin of La Peña, where one of the most intimate and moving religious celebrations, the Holy Hour, then takes place.
The Stations of the Cross begin at the Church of Saints Justo and Pastor, one of the most important churches in Sepúlveda, which once had as many as fifteen parishes. The church was dedicated to the veneration and worship of the holy martyrs Justo and Pastor, whose devotion spread widely throughout Hispania in the 7th century.
The Procession of Silence begins on Good Friday at nightfall, starting at the Church of San Bartolomé. The descent down the staircase toward the square, the light of the candles carried by the penitents, the incomparable backdrop of the castle, the two solemn floats depicting the Recumbent Christ and the Virgin, and the sepulchral silence make this procession one of the most significant moments of Holy Week in Sepúlveda.
The “Encuentro” Procession, on Easter Sunday. From Plaza de España to the Shrine of the Virgin of La Peña and back. The main square is the setting for the Encounter between the Risen Christ and the Virgin, before which the town gathers in anticipation. The climax occurs when the black veil covering the Virgin is removed, revealing her before the Risen Jesus. From that moment on, one of the most colorful processions begins, filled with a festive atmosphere.