Semana Santa!

Just a few people at Encarnación

I'm going to attempt to describe my experience watching the Semana Santa processions on Domingo de Ramos, the first day of Semana Santa, but it is something that you really need to see, hear, and smell (there is a lot of incense) in order to understand. I had quite low expectations of Semana Santa because 1) it would be super crowded and 2) it's very religious and I'm not. As I left my apartment on Sunday to meet up with my friends, I encountered what might be the most densely packed crowd of my life. Of course, there was a paso going straight through my path, so I had to walk through crowds of very well dressed Spaniards and not so well dressed tourists to get around the procession. I wondered why I had even dared to leave my apartment. Eventually, with many detours, I arrived to my friends at Torre de Oro. My German friend Tina arranged for two of her Spanish friends to show us around. That turned out to be the best thing ever, because I would have had no idea where or how to watch the pasos without them.

Paso of Virgin Mary

Nazarenos

First, we watched some Virgin Marys pass us by coming over the bridge from Triana. The music was really great and powerful but I think I missed the point of worshipping the figures of Mary and Jesus. I think the cooler parts are the nazarenos who wear the KKK-esque hats (capirotes) and carry huge candles and the penitentes who carry big crosses behind the paso. They look quite scary but are not meant to be. But if you saw one of them walking around at night out of context, you would run the other way. The Spanish guys took us all over the city and taught us about what we were seeing as we watched more processions. The pasos are all put on by different brotherhoods. Both of the guys we were with are in brotherhoods but are not very involved. Semana Santa is not for the claustrophobic. At one point, I was literally sandwiched between two people with no hope of escape while a paso turned the corner right in front of us. It is amazing how well coordinated the procession is. There are about 30 bulky men (costaleros) under the pasos who carry the huge float on their necks. After some tapas and torrijas (basically French toast covered in honey), we watched pasos in the dark and were less than a foot away from the people and the floats. At one point, the costaleros switched in and out from under the float right where we were standing. I have never had so much sweaty, fatty, and hairy Spanish man meat pressing me into a garbage can. But after that, they did an amazing thing where they all jump up at the same time and raise the float. I feared for my life with the heavy float full of burning candles being thrust into the air one foot from my head. No big deal. Just kidding...it was truly incredible. Towards the end, I got tired and my feet got very tired so it was not as exciting anymore, but the first 6 hours were really cool. Semana Santa seriously exceeded my expectations. Now I'll go outside and see some more nazarenos...and babies dressed as nazarenos (by far the cutest outfit in the world)!

Penitentes

Costaleros Under the Paso

Tomorrow, I leave for 9 days in ITALY!! My trajectory: Milan--Florence--Pisa?--Cinque Terre--Bologna :)