Spain is no exception when it comes to Easter celebrations. Easter in Spain , as in all other Christian worlds, is a grand annual occasion. Spain boasts of very rich heritage and culture. It has its own ancient rituals, customs and traditions. Eastertide celebrations offer an opportunity to discover the facts about the great religious history. Religious traditions of Easter in Spain are followed according to the rituals of Roman Catholic Church.

The Holy week is known as the Semana Santa in Spain . The Holy begins with Palm Sunday which is called as the Domingo de Ramos and ends with Easter Monday which is known as the Lunes de Pascua traditionally. Spain is a huge country where different regions have different kinds of rituals and customs to celebrate Easter.

On Palm Sunday, while devotees go to the church for the Easter morning mass, kids carry with them palm branches. These braches are blessed by the priests. There is tradition that simple palm branches are carried by the boys and girls carry the decorated ones with sweets and other tiny Easter ornament hanging to them.

Lent period, the forty days fasting period, starts from the Ash Wednesday and ends on the day before Easter, omitting Sundays. This is called Ash Wednesday because people place ash on their foreheads as the sign of penitence. This ash is obtained by the burning of palm branches which are blessed on the Palm Sunday. Priests smear this ash on the forehead of everybody present in the church. In the Verges ( Gerona ), a macabre dance, the Dance of death is performed by the men dressed as skeletons.

In Almaden de la Plata near Seville , on Easter Sunday effigies of celebrities are placed at different locations and are torn finally. Similar type of effigies are also placed in Castilblanco de los Arroyos but they set them on fire and these dolls are known as the Judas dolls. In major cities, parades are held.