Semana Santa

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is the most important religious event in Spain and Sevilla holds the largest celebration. All the events lead up to Easter Sunday. 

This week includes the processions of pasos, floats of lifelike sculptures of the different parts of the Passion. All the pasos, or floats, are handmade by artists. The different processions are organized by hermandades and cofradías, or religious brotherhoods. Brothers precede the pasos in the processions, along with musicians, generally brass bands. 

The processions follow designated routes around the city from their home churches to the Cathedral and back to their church. Sometimes, this can take all day.

The pasos are carried by a team of men called costaleros. They are named for the headress they wear to protect their heads. These men carry the paso on their necks and shoulders for hours, which can weigh over a ton. They are underneath the paso covered by a curtain, so it looks as if the float moves on its own. It takes about 24 to 54 costaleros to move a paso, who all have to walk in unison.

The brothers, or nazarenos, wear penitential robes and hoods that eerily resemble the outfits of the KKK. As my host Mom said, Spain had them first. No negative connotation here, but it's still slightly frightening to see them walk up behind you. There are different nazarenos for each brotherhood and use different colors for their robes and hoods. The purpose of the nazareno is to be able to perform penance without revealing their identity. Some nazarenos carry crosses, candles and some even walk barefoot, depending on the penance they are serving. The barefoot nazerenos really amazed me because it was over 85 degrees the day I went out to watch the processions and they are walking for hours, sometimes all day, on the hot concrete and stone.

The Spanish children bring balls of aluminum foil to the processions and hold them out to the nazarenos. The nazarenos drip the wax from their candles onto the foil ball and the children to get the biggest wax ball. Just a way to make watching the somber processions fun for the children.

brass band

Nazarenos

Paso

Overall, Semana Santa was great to see! My host mom and the majority of other Spaniards are really passionate about it. The crowds did get crazy and a few times it took a few hours to find my way out and get home. It's a huge part of Spanish, especially Sevillan, culture and it was great to experience it!