Semana Santa (Holy Week), leading up to Easter Sunday in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is a week of ceremony and ritual, of penitence and hoped-for salvation. Most of the townspeople take part in the processions and pageantry, both as solemn participants and as pious observers. In addition, visitors from throughout Mexico (and the world) gather to witness the beauty and reverence of the ritual re-enactments of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.