Semana Santa: Background

Holy Week, Semana Santa, is one of the biggest celebrations of the year here in Sevilla. It's a pretty big deal all over Spain, especially in the south, but Sevilla takes it to a whole different level. The basic idea of Semana Santa is to celebrate the passion, death, and more or less the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Semana Santa truly is a weeklong celebration, 24 hours a day, that takes place during the week of the 4th full moon every year.

The base of Semana Santa are the hermandades, brotherhoods, of the city. Most of these brotherhoods are associated with neighborhood-based churches throughout the city. These brotherhoods/societies aren't legitimatized until they participate in Semana Santa. Participation here refers to the procession of pasos.

Every hermandad in the city has a procession, called a paso, of members that walks from the home church to the cathedral in the center of the city, and back again on a specified day during Semana Santa. The schedule of these pasos is established well ahead of time and printed out in little booklets that are distributed for free at information centers, bars, and restaurants throughout the city. Because the processions go all the way from the door of the home church to the cathedral and back again, they can take anywhere from 6-14 hours, depending upon how far away the church is. There are many parts to these processions and a huge number of people from the hermandades take part, called nazarenos or penitentes in the procession. The procession begins with the 'cruz de guía' a nazareno who carries a large ornate cross. Hundreds of other nazarenos follow, some penitentes carry black wooden crosses with rosaries to repent their sins, acolytes carry tall candles, priests walk along with the procession spreading incense, many processions have accompanying bands of drums and cornets. But the most important part of these processions are the pasos themselves, large intricately decorated platforms that carry life-size depictions of Jesus, the Virgen Mary, and various scenes from the Passion. Each hermandad has at least two of these pasos: one that carries a depiction of Christ and one that carries a depiction of the Virgen. These depictions are incredibly lifelike and are often displayed in the church all year long but are mounted on the paso only for Holy Week.

The Cristo y Virgen María of each hermandad are very sacred, personal things. The members of certain barrios (neighborhoods) in Sevilla are fiercely loyal to their Cristo/Virgen and there are big rivalries between neighboring hermandades about whose is the best. For the Spanish people these figures embody Christ and the Virgen Mary. When Sevillanos pray, they don't pray directly to God or even to Jesus Christ the biblical figure, frequently they pray to their neighborhood's Cristo or to their Virgen María. It's considered offensive to refer to the paso figures as 'sculptures' or strictly works of art because to the Sevillan people there are so much more. However, there isn't a good translation for this in english so just know that when I talk about the Semana Santa figures that's what I'm talking about.

Anyway, these figures are mounted on these massive, rectangular platforms called pasos that are decorated with lit candles, hundreds of flowers, decorated in intricate silver and gold metalworks, and ornately woven cloth. There isn't really a way to accurately describe these without seeing them for yourself, I'll see if I can throw some pictures on here. Once these pasos have been put together with all the decorations and the figures themselves, they are lifted onto the shoulders of a team of 30 or so men called costeleros who walk underneath the paso, carrying it down the street all the way from their church to the cathedral and back again. The costeleros are completely hidden underneath the paso and a long cloth conceals their legs from view so to the crown it appears as though the figures on top are walking down the street by themselves. These costeleros are absolutely amazing - they carry an incredible amount of weight on their backs and walk blind down the cobblestone streets of Sevilla for hours on end. They get relieved by other costeleros throughout the procession, but it's still an unbelievable feat. It is a great honor to be a costelero and get to carry your Christ or Virgen in the procession. The pasos are set down every couple hundred meters which is part of the reason that the processions take so long, on top of the fact that there are so many people to get through the streets.

The pasos leave more or less in the order in which their particular Passion scene takes place chronilogically. For example, the hermandad that has a paso depicting Christ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey makes its procession on Palm Sunday, and the pasos that depict Christ on the cross go out later in the week. The streets of the city are completely shut down for these processions and people flood the sidewalks and plazas trying to find the ideal place to watch their favorite pasos go by.

Semana Santa appears to be an incredibly religious holiday, but in actuality it is a much stronger cultural celebration. Many members of the hermandades aren't religious followers, and the people who come out to watch the pasos don't necessarily come watch because they are hard core Catholics. People take part in the hermandades for the community, friendships, and family/cultural history that goes with them. They are centered around churches, but they have many functions outside of religion. That is something that is very important to understand when experiencing Semana Santa, people are celebrating their culture and everything that it means to be Sevillano on top of the religious holiday.

Easter may be all about Jesus, but the Virgen Mary is the star of Semana Santa. In each procession the paso with the Cristo goes first, and Mary follows. The people here love and are so proud of thier Virgen pasos. On the biggest night of Semana Santa (Thursday night to Friday morning) the whole city is awake and out all night long watching the biggest, most prestigious pasos. The two most famous Virgens in Sevilla are from the neighborhoods of Macarena and Triana. La Esperanza de Triana y La Macarena go out on the same night, and there is quite the competition between them. Rumor has it that the hermandad of La Macarena pays the local TV stations to only cover her paso when it re-enters the church, so that it is impossible to watch La Esperanza re-enter her church unless you are in Triana at the time. When these beautiful pasos go by, people watching from balconies above throw down flower petals, everyone on the streets yells out "¡Guapa! ¡Qué guapa!" Roughly translated this means beautiful or attractive and is typically heard on the streets as a piropo or cat call. It might seem a little sacrilegious to be calling the Virgen Mary hot, but once again that is the cultural aspect of Semana Santa. On certain balconies (which are in high demand, people pay a ridiculous amount of money to rent them just for Semana Santa. The same goes for seats that are set up on the street leading up to the Cathedral, it's impossible to get in unless you have an absurd amount of money) singers stand to serenade the pasos as they go by. It's a beautiful thing.

On top of the wonderful sights and sounds, there are also incredible tastes and smells that go along with Semana Santa. All of the flowers have burst into bloom at this point, including the very fragrant orange tree blossoms, and all of the pasos are covered in real flowers. At this time of the year, special pastries and sweets that are only made for Semana Santa go on sale at all of the bakeries and cafes around the city. Small stands and shops materialize in the middle of sidewalks and plazas, selling refreshments and toys for children. The whole city is abuzz with activity all day and all night. It is an incredible transformation to see.