Spain | Help At Thea

29 March to 5 April 2026 (Easter Week)

We are amazed at the number of cars, buses and all sorts of vehicles that make a massive squeaky noise as they’re turning corners in the streets of Granada.

Hayden explained it was because of the wax.

Wax is a by-product of the famous Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions in Spain. We had timed our visit to see our family during the Easter processions in Granada.

There are 32 cofradías (brotherhoods) who parade over the eight days, between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. More than two thousand costaleros (volunteers) carry fifty-eight processional pasos (floats or thrones carrying Christ and the Virgin).

Men and women penitents are dressed in colourful robes with tall, conical hoods, as an act of repentance, many carry pillar candles or crosses. They are followed by women in black dresses and black mantillas (veils), also holding pillar candles or crosses, Children are sprinkled throughout the parade, wearing caped cloaks and carrying cards to hand out, representing their brotherhood. The older children carry lighters to reignite the candles.

The parades include large, impressive marching bands, playing powerful and emotional music. Apart from the music, the participants are silent, serious and look fully devoted.

We certainly didn’t see all the parades. For example Maundy Thursday has Cristo de Silencio, which is in silence with a single beating drum. Holy Saturday has a single parade, from the Alhambra, featuring the Virgin Mary.

We also came across the last parade on Easter Sunday. The black mantillas were replaced with white mantillas and the parade seemed to have a lighter note.

The pillar candles are very long at the start of the week. As the parade stops, which they frequently do, children come out to collect the wax falling off the candles. Some of the children had quite large balls of wax.

As the week progresses the candles get shorter, obviously the wax has fallen on the road.

This is the reason why the tyres squeak. Apparently, the wax gets into the tyres creating the noise and it continues for some days.

It was an amazing experience to watch colour and devotion, and to gain an understanding of this very Spanish culture.