In Barcelona every spring before the Great Easter passes «Semana Santa», which translates as Holy Week. This is one of the most important religious holidays of the Catholic Church , week between the end of Lent and Easter.
In Spain, the Holy Week processions are very colorful. Sunday after 7 days before Easter is called the "Domingo de Ramos", on the streets traditionally sold palm branches, that need to be sanctified in churches and decorate them their homes. It is believed, they help from spoiling, the evil eye, and various disasters.
Lunes Santo - Holy Monday , Martes Santo - Holy Tuesday ... etc. или до Resurrection Easter Sunday, main holiday, which in Russian is called the Resurrection or Easter.
the, who decided to visit Barcelona during the Easter celebration, it should be remembered, that holidays in Catalonia are considered Friday «Viernes Santo» and Monday, It is marking the second Easter. This differs from the rest of Catalonia regions of Spain, which is celebrated not only Good Friday, but also Holy Thursday.
Many locals take on the job a couple days off and leave for a week on vacation with friends or with the whole family. Spring holidays in the Balearic Islands, southern Spain, in the mountains, or simply in the nature nourish katalantsev necessary energy after winter.
Holy Thursday - the first day of the three-day Easter service, dedicated to the Last Supper. On this day in Barcelona Catholics traditionally make "pilgrimages" to the seven churches in the famous Barcelona, including the Cathedral, Sagrada Familia, Church of Santa Maria del Mar, Church of St. Pere and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, disposed on the mount Tibidabo.
Special day - Good Friday. On this day, not only in Barcelona, but also in many other cities, the process starts before sunrise and ends after midnight. Special worship services follow the way of Christ on Calvary. The main elements of these processes are «paso» (isp. step) - richly decorated with flowers and candles huge platform, where statues depicting Jesus and the Virgin Mary. On this day, it is forbidden to eat meat, in Barcelona Good Friday decided to cook soups and dishes of cod.
Easter Sunday - the most joyous occasion of Holy Week. Usually on this day all the Spanish families come together for the holiday table.
In Catalonia, there is a tradition of support of Easter songs with religious content. Already in the XVI century, this tradition has been extremely popular and still in many villages of Catalonia there are musical groups, performing resorts Easter Saturday night, Sunday and Easter Monday. According to tradition, the singing is accompanied by musical instruments, as well as a fee charged to students eating, in particular, Easter eggs.
a whole tradition of egg painting existed in ancient Spain. During 40 days pre-Easter fasting, chicken and duck eggs were collected and preserved, to holiday in the first day take them to the church, sanctify and give relatives or friends.
Today, they give each other no longer painted, and chocolate eggs, chocolate, and even entire compositions with multiple figures, jewelry and a variety of subjects. These culinary delights can be seen these days in the windows of all the Catalan confectionery.
But anyway, Catalan popular proverb sounds: "Pasqua sense ous, com Nadal sense torrons "(Easter without yayts, like Christmas without nougat). And so the traditional Easter cake from pastry "Mona de Pascua" still adorns the whole hard-boiled eggs. Earlier this cake gave children their godparents. Now they adorn the famous characters and cartoon characters. We recommend that a week before Easter to look at the Barcelona Confectionery, admire the chocolate masterpieces.
One of the most delicious traditional Easter sweets - is, over the same, пончики "Lent fritters". With cream or powdered sugar, aniseed or apple, empty or filled. Donuts "buñuelos" may be completely different species, but the most delicious of them is - "buñuelos de viento". Traditionally, the donuts are sold in pastry for 40 days before Easter.
