The week before Easter in Spain is known as Semana Santa, or the Holy week. Starting from the Holy Thursday, Passover processions take place throughout Spain. This religious processions are dedicated to the events that occurred after Christ entered Jerusalem. In Guipúzcoa, this spectacular procession can be observed in Hondarribia and Irun. Dressed in medieval clothes of monks, procession participants carry out huge relic figures that tell the biblical story of the arrest, scourging, crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Heavy two-meter statues are fixed on special platforms and are carried out from the main church to be paraded on the carriers' shoulders in the Silent procession through the city. Some of the statues are escorted by people in the costumes of Roman soldiers who served the verdict of Pontius Pilate on the crucifixion of Christ. The procession is accompanied by an orchestra playing funeral march.
In some regions, Easter processions are accompanied by representatives of religious communities that are dressed in floor-length robes and sharply pointed hats (capirote), similar to those worn by member of the Ku Klux Klan. The tradition of wearing caps covering a person has remained since the time of the Inquisition, when those who committed a religious crime were forced to pass through the city in pointed caps as punishment. Now they are put on as a sign of sorrow and remorse for ones sins.