Pictures of Popayán

The Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions in Popayán are a UNESCO World Heritage Event and among the oldest traditions in Colombia. The processions run from the Tuesday to the Saturday before easter, from 8 PM to 11 PM.

The five processions, devoted to Mary, Jesus, the Cross, the Laying in the Tomb, and the Resurrection respectively, follow a two-kilometer route through the town centre. Each procession is set around reliquary floats, or ”pasos,” which are created and assembled according to complex rules.

Responsibility for the maintenance, assembly, decoration, and carrying of the pasos is handed down from generation to generation. Hotels in the city are sold out months in advance.

Seeing as it’s starting this week, I thought I should put up some pix of what we saw in last year’s procession.