Semana Santa, or Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter is a crazy celebration of history, culture, and religion. It's a tradition that is hundreds of years old and that has been celebrated by generations upon generations of people all over Europe - but Sevilla in particular.
Thousands upon thousands of people from the countryside, from throughout Spain and all over the world flocked to Sevilla for one week to see the infamous pasos and nazarenes fill the street.
Ready to take in some culture, I got up on the first day, threw on a dress (if you're not dressed to impress during Semana Santa, do not leave your house) and went out to see the city in full swing.
First I had to escape my own street. Ready to go!
After meeting a friend, we started by walking down to Plaza Espana, one of the more famous (read: touristy) areas of the city to see one of the first pasos of the week go by. Half the nazarenes were children without their hoods on, so I didn't take too many pictures.
We followed this paso as they moved at a snail's pace out of the park and into the square nearby, to get great pictures of these guys in the sunlight:
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| #squadgoals |
How gorgeous? And under each of these statues there is a group of men sweating to death under a velvet cloth, carrying 80 pounds of weight each. We had seen the men practicing weeks prior without the actual statues on top or the velvet cloth, and it was an interesting sight to see.
Once this paso had dispersed we walked over to Triana, where we knew a co-worker was going to be coming by in his robes soon. But first, pizza break:
Look at all those pointy hats! It was so hot out, we were sweating and couldn't imagine how they felt. We kept saying to each other, Why would anyone do this? Why would anyone pay to wear a velvet outfit and walk for 8+ hours in this heat?
But it's tradition. For example, in this brotherhood you have to know 2 people or be "recommended" to join by 2 people already in the brotherhood in order to join. While they are connected to churches, it is mainly due to family tradition that people continue to join. Besides, who wouldn't feel like a celebrity when they see that thousands of people have lined up to watch them pass (even if their faces are covered...).
This picture, taken from our balcony at work on a casual Tuesday evening, should show you how popular the city gets during Semana Santa:
And here's a before and after closer to my apartment:
Later in the week we met up with some other coworkers and saw some of the processions at night, which was gorgeous:
Apparently all of these statues are the originals, and when they're not being paraded around town they are fixtures in the churches that each brotherhood (or hermanidad) belongs to. Because they're the originals, they're worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and one of the most popular majors at university in Sevilla is art restoration. Learning all of this definitely changed my perspective on what an honor it is to be one of the men carrying them in the paso.
Next post: Easter in Lagos, Portugal
