City Reduces Funding for Holy Week and Refuses to Fund to Corpus Christi

Country: Spain

Date of incident: November 23, 2015


The Department of Culture in Palma de Mallorca has reduced municipal funding for events during the week leading up to Easter (known as “Holy Week” or “Semana Santa”, famous for grand processions) to just 3.000 euros, and has not allocated any funding to the important Catholic feast of Corpus Christi (known simply as “Corpus”).

Additionally, the city will require las cofradías (“confraternities” or Christian voluntary associations) and the Bishopric of Mallorca to pay 60.000 euros for costs associated with cleaning and the use of municipal police officers during these events.
Holy Week and Corpus are the two most important religious events in the city. 
According to a study by the Universitat de les Illes Balears, religious tourism draws over two million people each year to the islands, generating huge profits since it is estimated that each of these tourists spends 200 euros per day. 
The decision to charge for expenses appears to only apply to religious celebrations, since the city does not do the same for sports or cultural events, reports El Mundo Baleares. Further, this does not appear to be a purely budgetary decision, as the city it will allocate 50.000 euros for the promotion of Catalan and another 30.000 for the the so-called “historical memory”. Source: Actuall