Nowadays, Spain has not an official religion, but, the majority of the people are Catholic or at least are following in some way the catholic traditions. Many people are take the advantage and travels or so in easter, like in Sweden. But, there are some special and old traditions working yet, like the following:

"Semana Santa” (Easter) in the south of Spain – Andalucía – there are Catholic “fanatic” processions and rituals. A mixture of old culture, religion, alcohol and party. Yes, it’s in this way. Around this Easter 2010 we are reading about many terrible Catholic scandals that have happened for many years. Silence was the rule… In Spain the authorities keep silence too. Probably the idea is: no comments, and very soon the news are sleeping.

Back to the traditional easter rituals, in some churches, people are “watching over” for – 24 hours, the statue of a Virgin. For example: In Barrio de Triana in Sevilla. They are wearing nice and very expensive clothes. Some people are praying and with a fantastic organization in some groups. The name of the organization around this is: Cofradias. (www.andalucia.org). It’s like an association, and they prepare the religious activities and some of them, they carry around the very heavy Virgin sculptures, and other different sculptures on the streets. In the procession people pray, cry and some even hit themselves, to remember the Passion of Christ. 

In Catalunya it is an old tradition to have like a theater performance of the Passion story in some small villages. The actors are the people of the village, but, it is really a nice and professional performance! Some villages like Olesa de Montserrat, Esparraguera, Cervera (www.lapassio.net, www.lapassio.com, www.lapassiodecervera.com) are in constant competition. In Catalunya, the traditional Easter is spent at home, and these days used to be with the family and friends.

I compare this time between both countries and I feel that the preparation is warmer in Sweden – putting up Easter decorations and cooking cakes – inside the family, closer and enjoying of the light and nature. The dark winter is in our back. It’s cold and around us, everywhere with snow. Really, a big contrast between my two lives. But, it seems that spring’s time is coming…

The best is to combine different places and cultures. To build and not to choose, that’s the richness. The idea of this blog is to look at the differences and to find many things during the way. Compare the culture, character, political systems and many other things.

Then, I start my blog from Sweden. My heart is half "català" and half Swedish.