**EaStEr**

To the solemn, persistent beat of a single drum, hundreds of men wearing pointed hoods that cover their faces parade through narrow streets bearing huge crucifixes, whilst women dressed in black stand silently and watch. This is the Deep South, not of America but of Spain, where unique Easter processions will soon get underway. To be in Spain at Easter is to witness a series of ancient rituals that go to the heart of a country with a fiercely religious history.
Whilst it is claimed that Spain is sliding into secularism and its youngsters are largely ignoring their Roman Catholic backgrounds, in Holy Week or Semana Santa, there is not a village or city that is untouched by some form of public display to mark the predominant church's most important feast: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.