New Delhi, April 4 -- One religious brotherhood's refusal to include women in its Holy Week procession has made front-page news in Spain, whose Easter-time festivities dating back centuries are among the most fervently celebrated in the world.

The exclusion is the exception in the Catholic processions that have been unfolding across the country. They vary from hourslong versions that attract tens of thousands of faithful and tourists in major cities like Seville to village affairs that speak more intimately to family and tradition.

There was indignation at the controversy unfolding in Sagunto, where a majority of the Purissima Sang de Nostre Senyor Jesucrist brotherhood's members voted to exclude women and said their decision was based ...