A long-standing tradition: The Holy Week and Easter in Tunja

This paper offers a historical view on Holy Week and Easter in the city of Tunja (Colombia), a sign of popular religiosity that has stayed in the urban space from the 16th to the 21st century. Archives documents and little-studied chronicles are used to show the continuities and discontinuities in the representation of Christ s Passion, a Hispanic tradition appeared in the city under the guide of the Council of Trento at the end of the 16th century and carried out by the brotherhoods formed with this purpose. The representations of Holy Week and Easter were modified in the 19th century after the confiscation of church assets and in the 20th century the Liturgical Reform of the Catholic Church promoted by the pope Pius XII which gives its current characteristics. In the 21st century, the manifestations of Holy Week and Easter in Tunja are recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Colombia.