Theme: “Living Identities”

October 8-10, 2025 | Ovar and Santa Maria da Feira

A European Network of Holy Week and Easter Celebrations is holding the third edition of its European Congress from October 8 to 10, 2025, in the cities of Ovar and Santa Maria da Feira, under the theme of “Living Identities”. This edition proposes a critical and multidisciplinary reflection on the value of authenticity and the challenges of safeguarding intangible heritage, in the context of the relationship between memory, identity and tourism in the celebrations of Holy Week and Easter in Europe.

After addressing “Holy Week as a Common Heritage” in the first congress and the transition “From the Local to the Universal” in the second, this edition of the Congress will seek to deepen the study of the practices and manifestations that embody these celebrations, analyzing how communities keep them alive and meaningful in the present. The tensions between tradition and innovation, the importance of interdisciplinarity, the processes of cultural transmission and the impact of tourism on these ritual expressions will be debated.

The congress will feature four conferences, two round tables and three thematic panels – “Passion and Identity”, “Religion and Culture in Public Space” and “City, Beliefs and People ” – with the participation of around twenty experts from Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland and Malta. The program also includes visits and cultural activities that will allow you to get to know the heritage of the host cities.

The organization is the responsibility of the European Network of Holy Week and Easter Celebrationsin collaboration with the Ovar Lenten Solemnities Commission and the Holy Week Commission of Santa Maria da Feiraand has the scientific support of the CEHR (Center for the Study of Religious History) of the Portuguese Catholic University and the CITCEM (Center for Transdisciplinary Research on Culture, Space and Memory) of the University of Porto.

Registration is 40 euros and runs until October 6, 2025.

More information, program and registration available at www.holyweekconference.eu.