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Comparison Of Semana Santa Spread To Spain

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In Hispanic countries, Semana Santa is the equivalent of our Holy Week in the United States. Semana Santa is a week long celebration before Easter. People celebrate Semana Santa starting on Domingo de Ramos, or Palm Sunday. They celebrate with parades and going to church. Spain usually has the most colorful celebrations out of all the Hispanic countries. Semana Santa is one of their top three holidays, but what makes this day so special? Semana Santa and Easter are similar in many ways. They are similar because they are both very colorful and happy celebrations. They also celebrate the same thing, which is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, there are some huge differences between Semana Santa and Easter. During Semana …show more content…

Semana Santa spread to Spain through Catholicism. Catholicism spread to Spain when the Reconquista took place. The Reconquista was a period of history spanning seven-hundred seventy years. During this time span, Spain was being torn between Islam and Christianity. The Islam religion was in charge of most of the Iberian peninsula, however neighboring European countries pushed back when the Muslims tried to advance more in Europe. These neighboring countries took the peninsula from the Muslims in 1250, turning it Christian. They left one kingdom to remain Muslim and that was Granada. In 1480, the Catholic Monarchs prolonged Catholicism in their kingdoms with the Spanish Inquisition. After both the Reconquista and the Inquisition, Catholicism spread throughout Spanish politics and culture, making it the most widespread religion in Spain with seventy to seventy-five percent of the population following it. Catholicism then spread to other Hispanic countries when conquistadors sailed the ocean to colonize and made the people who were already living there convert to Catholicism or else they would be killed. Because Catholicism was passed down for generations, the religion is now the most widely spread in all of the Hispanic

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