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- The most famous celebrations of Holy Week in the Spanish-speaking world are held in Seville. Lay brotherhoods, cofradías, process through the city in huge parades between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Costaleros bear the pasos, huge floats carrying religious figures made of painted wood. Others, nazarenos (Nazarenes) and penitentes (penitents) walk alongside the pasos, in their distinctive costumes. During the processions they sing saetas, flamenco verses mourning Christ's passion. The Seville celebrations date back to the sixteenth century.
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- The language of the Basque Country and Navarre, spoken by around 750, 000 people; in Spanish vasco or vascuence. It is also spelled euskara. Basque is unrelated to the Indo-European languages and its origins are unclear.
Like Spain's other regional languages, Basque was banned under Franco. With the return of democracy, it became an official language alongside Spanish, in the regions where it is spoken. It is a compulsory school subject and is required for many official and administrative posts in the Basque Country. There is Basque language television and radio and a considerable number of books are published in Basque. See also lenguas cooficiales



