We are entering Holy Week 2023. These are vacation days for many Spaniards, while others will have to settle for non-working days to break the routine. The calendar is not the same throughout the territory, since the holidays depend on each autonomous community, a circumstance to take into account for those who are going to travel to other regions.
The dates of this festivity are different each year when calculated using the lunar calendar. Holy Week is always celebrated between March 22 and April 25, with Easter Sunday taking place on the calendar on the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring. In 2023, this phase of the moon takes place on Thursday, April 6, so Easter Sunday, the central festival of Christianity as it deals with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, will be on Sunday, April 9. From this date, the rest of the days of Holy Week are established.
On April 6, 2023, three days before Easter Sunday, Holy Thursday is celebrated. It is the day on which the Last Supper is commemorated; the Washing of the feet; the institution of the Eucharist, the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Arrest of Jesus.
On Holy Thursday, April 6, 15 regions will be a holiday in addition to Ceuta and Melilla. These are: Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, the Community of Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, the Basque Country, La Rioja.
In this way, Holy Thursday will only be a working day in Catalonia and the Valencian Community.
One day after Holy Thursday comes Good Friday, which in 2023 will be April 7. It is the day that Jesus died on the Cross. It includes the prison, the interrogations of Caiaphas and Pilate, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the Via Crucis, the Crucifixion and the Burial of Jesus.
Good Friday, April 7, is the only national holiday in Easter, so it is a non-working day throughout the Spanish territory.
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