pre-Semana Santa

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a religious festival of utmost importance in Sevilla....and it begins on Sunday! (today by the time I finished this post)  Although, it occurs throughout Spain, the most famous are held here.  Preparations take place all year long, but have been most obvious in the last couple weeks (setting up bleachers, hanging up bulletins, and practicing lifting the weight of the floats).  Today I learned quite a bit more about how everything is going to work.  First, Semana Santa consists of eight days of processions beginning with Palm Sunday and continuing through Easter Sunday.  The tradition began in the 16th century and the processions model the 14 stations of the Passion and Death of Christ.  The processions are similar to a parade, only much more sacred.  Each procession is lead by a Cruz de Guía followed by rows of nazarenos.  Nazarenos are people belonging to the brotherhood (hermandades/cofradias) that own the pasos (pasos are very elaborate floats that are carried through the streets)...the outfit worn by these people is very peculiar (I will describe it next week) and they generally carry candles and religious banners.  Each procession consists of 2 pasos, one representing a scene from the Passion of Christ and another representing the Sorrow of the Virgin Mary.  *Keep in mind that these pasos are extremely heavy (4,000 pounds on average) since they are made of wood, gold, silver, and adorned in candles, flowers, and tapestry...and move only by the strength of the costaleros (men who bear the weight of the float from beneath, about 30-40 under each).  It is so heavy that the costaleros shuffle through the streets because lifting there feet above the ground would be too much extra work.  Next in line are the hooded and barefoot penitents who carry wooden crosses for the forgiveness of their sins and for the granting of wishes.  Finally, a band of trumpets and drums sets the beat of the movement.  All of this is just one procession, and there are multiple processions each day.

      On our tour of the parade route (one which passes through some of the most important streets, into the cathedral, and back to its starting church), we talked about other aspects of the festival.  For a week, Sevilla will be filled with smell of incense.  Each brotherhood has it's own color, music, symbols, and smell.  I found out that the primary reason for the incense is to mask the smell of the people carrying the paso because they will be sweating so much and walking for hours (sometimes more than 14 hours).
    Other customs for Semana Santa are to wear new clothes on Palm Sunday, and for women to dress in all black on Holy Thursday and Good Friday to express mourning for Christ's death.  Also, there are 2 sweet pastries that are specific to the celebrations, torrijas and pestiños.  I had the chance to try a torrija and it was delicious....similar to french toast, but dowsed in honey instead of syrup.
     While learning about Semana Santa, we stopped into a couple of the churches that had their pasos on display.  I also went to some on my own and my professor on Thursday took us to a different one during class!  The detail in each paso is tremendous and I loved being able to see everything up close.  These will be the vest views I have because there are so many people during Semana Santa it will be impossible to get that close.

     The first paso that begins Holy Week is housed in the San Salvador church and depicts Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.  Many other ones are of Jesus carrying the cross.  A famous paso of this scene is named Cristo de Gran Poder and is right by my house.  It is customary to walk behind the figure and kiss the heal of Jesus for forgiveness each year.  Finally, I saw the loved Virgen de la Esperanza in the Macarena Basilica.  An interesting observation is that in Spain it seems as though the Virgin Mary has much more significance in the people's faith and idolization.
     It was awesome to get the inside scoop on Semana Santa and I loved walking into church's to see their pasos this week (if the doors were open and a bunch of people were going in I would just pop my head in to see).  Also, besides the floats, the Basilica and Salvador Church were sites to see themselves.  Both are baroque style, but in very unique ways.  The paintings in Macarena and altar in Salvador are what I enjoyed most.