Calp Town Council has begun work to propose to the Generalitat Valenciana that Easter Week in Calp be declared a Fiesta of Regional Tourist Interest. The administrative file has been started to request this declaration, which will include the necessary documentation to process this request before the official bodies.
In recent years, Easter Week in Calpe has recovered an extraordinary dynamism. Five relatively young brotherhoods, together with the Festivities Commission and the parishes of Nuestra Sra. de las Nieves and Nuestra Sra. de la Merced, have joined forces to organise a complete and extensive programme coordinated by the Junta Mayor de Cofradias y Hermandades de Semana Santa (Major Board of Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods of Easter Week).
During these days, thousands of Calpinos and visitors take to the streets to contemplate the passing of the carvings up close. The fervour of the people of Calpe is divided into five brotherhoods that make up the human factor of the celebration: the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Health, the Brotherhood of Christ of the Gypsies, El Poderoso, the Brotherhood of Jesus the Nazarene, the Brotherhood of Christ of the Three Fallen and the Brotherhood of Silence. Together with them the Festeros, responsible for the procession of Palm Sunday and the Encounter, and whose festive women become the "dolorosas" of the Virgen de Dolores.
Throughout the week the different brotherhoods process through the streets of the old town, one each day from Palm Sunday onwards. The devotion and aestheticism reach their peak on Good Friday, with the procession of the Holy Burial, which ends in the Plaza de la Villa with the gathering of all the images and brotherhoods.
In contrast to the night and sadness of Good Friday, Easter Sunday begins brightly with the gathering of parishioners in the Plaza de San Salvador to attend the Encounter between the Risen Christ and the Virgin. This is one of the most heartfelt events in which the members of the Festivities Commission take on special relevance as they accompany the images wearing the traditional Calpe costume.
Holy Week thus becomes a religious, cultural and touristic event, the devotion and fervour that emanates from each act is combined with a great aesthetic and cultural value. And at the same time, Easter Week becomes another tourist resource, an attraction that makes it worthwhile to visit Calp on these dates.