Ramadan, Easter, Passover: religious traditions that coincide in Spain

Ceuta, Spain, Apr 16 (EFE).- The coexistence of different religions in cities across Spain means religious occasions of different faiths often coincide on the same dates.

It is the case for the autonomous city of Ceuta, where Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan, Catholics celebrate Holy Week, and Jews commemorate Passover on the same dates.

Ramadan began on 1 April, while the Holy Week on Sunday and Passover celebrations started on Friday.

For Mohamed Lahssen, one of nearly 30,000 Muslims living in Ceuta, the celebrations are good news for his business.

“On the one hand, I take many Muslims home to break their fast just before nine o’clock at night,” the taxi driver told Efe.

“Then, when I eat, I take the taxi again and pick up many Christians who have finished the procession and return to their homes from early morning from the churches,” he added.

The Luna Blanca charity organization has installed charity tables in the vicinity of the Sidi Embarek mosque offering food to some 400 people daily.

The Catholic-majority city marks the Holy Week by placing sacred images as processions returned to normal this year, with only some sanitary measures due to curb the spread of Covid-19.

“I work in a cafeteria in the center of the city and I have seen all the brotherhoods go by,” Insaf Mohamed, a Muslim whose workplace is located in the central city, told Efe.

On Friday, over 1,000 Jews living in the city commemorated the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt.

It is the first time in two years that religious celebrations take place in the multicultural city like Ceuta, after Covid-19 restrictions forced the events to be cancelled. EFE

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