Six Centuries of Faith and Tradition: Holy Week in Lucena

Holy Week in Lucena is one of the most distinctive expressions of Andalusian popular religiosity, with origins dating back to the 16th century and a unique identity shaped over the course of centuries. Designated as an Event of Tourist Interest in Andalusia, it is distinguished by its ‘santería tradition’ ―a unique way of carrying processional thrones on the shoulder and with the face uncovered― which has been recognised as an Asset of Cultural Interest (Bien de Interés Cultural).

Faith, tradition, art, and popular participation together in a celebration deeply rooted in the identity of the people of Lucena ―one that is not confined to a few days of the year, but is lived and passed on throughout all 365 days of the year. A manifestation of popular piety that preserves the town’s culture and heritage , making Lucena a destination where Holy Week —comprising 17 Passion brotherhoods and confraternities that process with more than fifty images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and accompanying figures― is not merely observed, but understood, shared, and experienced from within.

17th and 18th Centuries: Splendour and Control

The Barroque period brought an unprecedent flourishing: brotherhoods multiplied, chapels were enriched, and new sacred images and processional furnishings were acquired. The Plaza Nueva became the great stage of public religiosity, with large processions and a strong element of popular participation.

But the 18th century brought a change. Bourbon regalism and Enlightenment thought criticised the brotherhoods for their “excess” of external acts. The Royal Decree of Charles III of 1784 limited expenditure, prohibited certain practices, and required the regularisation of constitutions. The Concordat of 1753 subordinated the Church to the Crown in temporal matters, reducing the autonomy of the brotherhoods and confraternities.

During the reign of Charles IV, in 1798, with the permission of the Holy See and with the aim of reducing the Public Debt, a process of disentailment was initiated which affected several brotherhoods in Lucena, forcing them to invest the proceeds from the sale of certain assets in goverment bonds, the income from which gradually declined until it desappeared.

19th Century: Crisis, Disentailments, and Resistance

Bishop Pedro Antonio de Trevilla (1805-1832) imposed severe reforms and, in 1820, a diocesan decree approved by his Council of Chamber and Government became known, by which the celebrations were reduced to the afternoon of Good Friday. Processional canopies were also expressly prohibited, as were inappropiate garments on the images, as well as any jewels of precious stones, gold, silver, hairstyles, or any adornment deemed unsuitable in any respect. The processional groups of the Descendimiento (Descent from the Cross), Los Apóstoles (The Apostles), Discípulos (Disciples), Ángeles (Angels), Sibilas (Sibyls), or Virtudes (Virtues) were also suppressed, as were tunics, hoods, helmets, soldiers, and any distinction that might attract attention. The old ‘paso a correón’ —images carried by means of a strap across the chest— was formally prohibited in 1838.

After the first third of the 19th century, the confraternity world of Lucena underwent a prolonged decline that would lead several of the town’s major brotherhoods, and most of the smaller ones, into a lengthy period of decay or even extinction. In the case of Lucena, the brotherhoods that carried out their penitential processions during Holy Week, such as those of Pasión (Passion), the Santa Vera Cruz (Holy Vera Cruz), and Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (Our Lady of Solitude), were particularly affected, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of confraternity members, as well as a reduction in the alms and donations upon which the brotherhoods had previously relied. Finally, the spread of secularism also contributed to the weakening of the brotherhoods. The Brotherhood of Jesús Nazareno (Jesus the Nazarene) was able to withstand all these crises, sustained both by the great popular devotion to the image of Nuestro Padre (Our Father) and by the strength of the brotherhood itself, in which membership of the governing board was regarded as a sign of social prestige.

‘Santería’ and Revival in the 20th Century

In the late 19th and early twentieth centuries, in a context of growing anticlaricalism, the ‘santería’ became stablished as the distinctive way of carrying the processional thrones: on the shoulders, with faces uncovered, under the orders of the ‘manijero’, and to the sound of the drum and the ‘torralbo’. The term ‘santero’ first appeared in the press in 1907 and today stands as unique model of processional carrying in the world, declared Bien de Interés Cultural (Asset of Cultural Interest)  in 2025. As the heir of the ‘correonistas’, the ‘santería’ gives the processions a distinctive aesthetic: styles such as the ‘botao’, the ‘maseteao’ and the ‘coleao’ define the movement and rhythm of the throne, adapted to the character of the image and guided by the beat of the drum. Perhaps the phenomenon of the ‘santería’, which took shape in the closing years of the 19th century and became firmly established among the people, served as a stimulus to the public religious manifestations of Lucena in the face of the misunderstanding and even hostility that they experienced in other Spanish localities.

During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the post-war period, a confraternal revival took place with the foundation of new brotherhoods such as those of Jesús de la Columna (Jesus at the Column), el Cristo de la Sangre (Christ of the Blood), and the Pollina. These newly founded brotherhoods made a notable appearance in the processions of Palm Sunday afternoon and on the nights of Holy Thursday and Good Friday in Lucena. They were a further expression of the conservative Catholic outlook of the dictatorship and o religiosity, with the active participation of ordinary people through the ‘santería’.

Without suffering any losses to its religious artistic heritage during the Civil War, the confraternity world of Lucena entered a prolonged crisis from the mid-twentieth century onwards, which lasted for almost two decades. In 1944, the Agrupación de Cofradías (Association of Brotherhoods) was founded and, by 1967, only ten thrones made their penitential procession, eight of them carried according to the ‘santería’ tradition, with the presence of the old titular images in the streets of Lucena prevailing over brotherhoods that were inactive or even non-existent. From the 1970s onwards, with the restoration of democracy, Holy Week in Lucena experienced a remarkable expansion: an increase in the number of brotherhoods, the restoration of sacred images, the enrichment of its heritage, and greater social involvement. Today, there are 17 Passion brotherhoodsin Lucena, which preserve and carry in procession, during Holy Week, more than fifty sculptures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and secondary figures.

Retrieved from: Notas para la historia de las cofradías lucentinas. Book by Francisco López Salamanca, Lucena’s oficial chronicler (2022)

Photographs: Jesús Cañete Fernández.