Holy Week. In Spain it means processions, floats, saetas, brotherhoods and entire cities organized around a calendar that is not only religious, but also cultural. In Catalonia it also means jesters, palms and palmons, family getaways and visits to emblematic places linked to the Christian tradition. Many Catalans of Andalusian origin return to their land these days to reconnect with Holy Week, which continues to have enormous strength.All this coexists with a certain intellectual contempt. Not on the part of everyone, of course. But in a large part of the political and urban progressivism, the Catholic religious tradition is usually viewed with a mixture of contempt, irony, and moral superiority. It is tolerated as a picturesque custom, an ancient remnant. Religion is questioned and its symbols are caricatured.The curious thing is that this same country that despises its traditions turns them, when April arrives, into a formidable economic machine. Renfe has scheduled three million places for this Holy Week. In many destinations, hotel reservations are close to full: Cuenca, Toledo, Andalusia, to give some examples. Tradition moves people, fills hotels, sustains restaurants, activates businesses, generates temporary employment, and gives economic meaning to many territories.Seville has even sophisticated the public management of its processions with maps, capacity control, and special mobility devices. Barcelona maintains the Fira de Rams on Rambla de Catalunya, where palms and laurel are sold. Catalan pastry shops are already exhibiting their "monas" as small works of competitive craftsmanship. All of this is real economy.The paradox deserves attention. The legacy is undervalued and then its impact on hospitality, transport, and domestic tourism is celebrated. The symbol is criticized and the box is applauded.Welcome to all this economic activity. But that is not the important thing. The important thing is that they are part of our legacy. Of a historical, cultural and moral heritage that has contributed to shaping us as a society. One may not be a believer, not practice, not share the Catholic faith and, even so, perfectly understand that one cannot live ignoring the Judeo-Christian tradition that has shaped a large part of our culture, our sensitivity, our idea of good and evil, our way of understanding life in common.Each person embraces these dates from a different place: from faith, from family emotion, from memory, from custom, or from simple inheritance. All of this is legitimate. What is poorer is to look at them with dogmatic contempt, as if they were an uncomfortable relic that is only tolerated because it makes money. They are part of us. And it would be advisable to remember this also for Easter.
