Tamborada (drum festival)

The pinnacle of the Easter week in Hellín, Albacete province, is the Tamborada (drum-playing). This is the most important fiesta on the town calendar, when up to 20,000 drums start playing, the beginning of an uproar that will continue over several days.

Midnight on Maundy Thursday sees the most important drum-playing moment of the whole celebration. On Good Friday night the Santo Entierro procession takes place, marked by silence and meditation, in clear contrast to the tremendous noise of the drums. In this procession you can see the wooden Cristo Yacente statue, by sculptor Mariano Benlliure, considered one of the finest works of 20th century sculpture. One last session of drum-playing, from Holy Saturday night to Sunday evening, marks the end of Hellín’s Easter week celebrations, after hundreds of doves are released into the sky.Easter week is one of the most heartfelt and deep-rooted fiestas celebrated in Spain. This commemoration has centuries of history and tradition, remembering the passion and death of Jesus Christ. The streets of the majority of Spain's cities, towns and villages become the stage for religious fervour and devotion, combining grief and meditation in memory of Christ's death. Music, art and colour come together in magical processions - solemn parades in which crowds of people accompany religious images on their route through the streets.