Santa Santa and some more Sevilla

As I sit down to write this, I am still recovering from a night of heavy drinking/dancing so my coherence may not be at its best. Two nights ago, I started a ten-page paper that was due the next day and didn’t finish until 5am (such are my study habits over here). Yesterday, I had to present my research with a Power Point slideshow on four hours of sleep. So last night I decided that purchasing a bottle of scotch and going town was the best was to celebrate/relax (don’t worry, it was an impulse that I had to satisfy, I will go back to wine now). After a few drinks we went to a club where they served free sangria for the first half hour. I threw back five glasses. It was poorly made and I probably didn’t need it, but hell, it was free. Better than buying the 6 Euro ($9) drinks.

Without further adieu, I present Semana Santa and more notes on Sevilla.

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is one of two weeklong breaks that I have here in Sevilla. It is one of the most important and significant weeks of the year for the city, perhaps for the entire Spanish calendar. As an incredible spectacle, it not easy to describe what it entails, but I’ll try to do it justice bit by bit.

The break just happened to coincide with UMass spring break, so my lovely girlfriend Jessica was here visiting. This is a picture of us at Plaza de Espana.

Having her here was excellent – playing tour guide and trying to keep her entertained help me really connect with and understand Sevilla better. I think at times I bored her with my useless knowledge of art history and architecture but she’s relatively tolerant.

It’s said that the citizens of Sevilla, Sevillanos, are some of the most adept peoples at maneuvering through crowds. This reputation apparently stems from Semana Santa. Jessica and I now know why.

The day after Jess arrived was Palm Sunday, so I took her to mass at the cathedral. It was really beautiful, and though she’s Jewish, she really enjoyed it.

We ran into our first paso (procession) later that day. We didn’t even mean to, but as we made our way towards the center of town through Plaza Nueva, a crowd was beginning to form and I was unsure of what was going on (I didn’t think the processions would start until the next day or at the earliest that evening). This is what we saw.

More hooded nazarenos (penitents) passed by, the strong scent of incense filled the air, the trumpets and drums of the band grew louder, and I began to think this was indeed an official paso. My suspicions were confirmed when Jesus showed up.

To the ignorant observer, such a parade of devotion and ritual appears rather strange. The pasos are made up of four main elements: cloaked and hooded nazarenos, the bands of horns and percussion, a float depicting various scenes from the passion of Jesus Christ, and lastly a float depicting the grieving Mary. The floats are what the people crowd to see, particularly Mary as they are beautifully ornate and the way in which they carried is fascinating.

Forty men from the brotherhood (each brotherhood is like a fraternity of laypeople that represent one church in Sevilla) actually carry these things on the back of their shoulders and neck. Above, you can see some brothers preparing to carry. The rolled cloth on the back of their necks are the only cushion they have. What’s more impressive is that some pasos take 14 hours total to complete their routes. People have had heart attacks getting under these things.

There's a decent video of a paso on YouTube that you can view by clicking here. It will be give you a better idea of what goes on than my pictures and descriptions.

Since we got here, sometimes at night we would see these guys carrying floats around the city with sandbags on top. Before we found out why we just thought Sevillanos were into forming clubs devoted to carrying heavy shit around for fun. The practice is necessary since it takes very precise form to carry the floats without injuring oneself and the paso schedule is so tight. Over 50-60 brotherhoods march during Semana Santa, some days as many as 14 make their way from their church to the cathedral and back. The approach to and from the cathedral is the most important stage, since all pasos must pass through the same streets to get in and out, so keeping on schedule is crucial to avoid backups.

During the Franco years, Spaniards were very disillusioned with their Catholic faith, so the regime had to pay men to carry the floats. Nowadays, there has been a resurgence of enthusiasm for Semana Santa and it is practically impossible to have the opportunity to do what is seen as an honor and privilege.

The nazareno costumes certainly need some explanation. First off, the cloaks and hoods have absolutely no connection to the KKK. This was repeatedly emphasized by our program directors and teachers at the university. This particular brotherhood just happen to wear white; nazarenos come in all colors, depending upon the particular brotherhood. Nazarenos first marched during Semana Santa long before the Klan formed. Leading up to Semana Santa, API put on a presentation to give us a bit of background and explain some of the practices. As part of it, they brought a nazareno outfit in. Being the eager volunteer that I am, I got to try it on.

The other picture is rather controversial, but I think the warning at the bottom makes it okay for me to make it my new header. Frenchie had a good run, but I felt it was time. Though this get-up was not quite as fun, I still made everyone laugh because the cone didn’t fit on my huge head. Behind me trying in vain to adjust the costume was Marta, one of my three directors. All you could see through the eye slits were my eyebrows and I couldn’t see a damn thing. It was funny.

The outfit belongs to one of my other directors, Juan, who is not a religious person, but his family convinced him to march with them last year. This is just one of many examples of the way in which Semana Santa has become more of a cultural tradition than a religious observance.

With Jess here for the week, I was able to act touristy without any guilt. There were so many tourists here to begin with to see the festivities for Semana Santa, whipping out your camera to snap pictures everywhere was not much of an issue.

This gives me a prime opportunity to show you some main spots around downtown Sevilla.

This is Puerta de Juarez. As one of the more central spots in town, it's always a good place to meet. It features one of the many fountains in the city, which despite the alleged water shortages in southern Spain are always running...
This is the train that runs up and down the center. It moves incredibly slow and to follow the line from one end to the other would be a 10 minute walk max. In other words, it's quite pointless, but I think the blue hairs like it.
Look closely. Yes, this is indeed Boston Burger, of which I've seen several in Spain. However, this one actually spells burger correctly (they usually spell it buerger/burguer). They have 1euro coffee, a full 20 euro cents below the market average, so I hit that up when I need a boost.

This Avenida de Constitucion, the main street that runs right in front of the cathedral. You can see the barriers up to contain the crowds that will begin to form in the later afternoon as Constitucion is part of the paso route. On the right are a huge stack of chairs, this particular portion of the route actually has reserved seating. People pay hundreds of euros and in some cases thousands for seats during the week. Oftentimes those seats have been in the family for decades, sometimes longer.

This is a shot of some of the buildings along Constitucion. If you recall in an earlier post on Sevilla, I claimed the city has parts that are like Disney World but real. Here's a case in point.


This is one of the interior courtyards of the Alcazar, one of three active Spanish Royal residences. The architectural style is modeled in the Hispano-Muslim technique of the Taifa period. The fine detail of the plaster work is hard to appreciate in pictures, even from close ups, but above is one of the better shots of the most famous courtyard in the palace.
Muslims occupied Sevilla until 1248 and prior to the Renaissance arriving in Spain during the 1400's, Muslim palaces were considered the finest and most grand in the world. You can probably see why. This skylight room is right next to the room where Christopher Columbus asked the Spanish king and queen, Ferdinand and Isabella to finance his voyage to find a western route to Asia. No need for me to go into the historical significance of that.
Outside of the palace, and within its walls, are acres upon acres of gardens. We found these peacocks just chillin'. Note the security guard was hard at work feeding them.
So as I've mentioned, the meat handling standards and preparation are one of the central cultural differences. I've grown de-sensitized to seeing these legs hanging everywhere. In some places, you walk in and they are literally hanging around the bar. You find yourself trying to order a beer through a pig leg swinging in your face. It's not easy.

Just before break, one of my teachers from the University invited all of her classes to her company's two story piso uptown to watch a paso from the balconies. I was the only one from my class to take her up on the invitation and I'm thrilled that I did. In addition to excellent views, there was free wine, beer, and food.

We really had a nice aerial view. Here's the start of the paso with the band drumming away.
In a related anecdote, before getting to the party, Jessica and I stopped at a bar around the corner to grab a drink. I ordered a beer and a tinto de verano (red wine and lemon soda). The bartender gave me a look and kept asking me a question I couldn't understand. I kept asking the bartender what he was asking for because it was pretty loud in the bar and he was speaking fast. Eventually, I realized he was carding me. I laughed hysterically, as this is the first time I've been carded or heard of anyone being carded in Spain. I gave him my student ID and he gave me three beers. I wasn't about to make any more of a scene. How this happened I don't know, but I felt it was discouraging for my Spanish.

It may be difficult to see, but when the Jesus arrived, the woman hanging over the balcony on the right began to sing. Everyone hushed one another and within seconds, a complete silence fell over the thousands of people lined up and down the street. It was very powerful.
This is a shot of Mary from the ground floor. I pulled myself up on a ledge of the window, and you can see how close I was. It was very cool. Definitely much better than watching from the street. The readily available refreshments were also a plus.
Here's another Mary at rest in a church that Jessica and I just happened to stumble upon walking through the city one day. People had gathered around the entrance to catch a rare glimpse of the float all done up for a paso and stationary for pictures.
Jessica and I hanging out by the river, which we did plenty of. It just doesn't get old. I hope she had as much fun as I did. We walked a lot and wore ourselves out (including through an extremely rare rainstorm), but all in all it was worth it. Once I get her pictures, I may make another post. I'm sure I've also left some things out. Stay tuned.