Hello all! I don’t know if you have heard or not, but Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a huge deal in Seville. The whole process involves weeks of preparation and set up and is rooted in centuries of Catholic tradition. I am lucky enough to be living in one of the most famous places IN THE WORLD to visit during Semana Santa, so now I’m going to tell you what I thought about it all.
Now, before I begin, there is one thing of the utmost importance for you to know. The hooded figures in the pictures below are NOT associated with the KKK, and there is nothing sinister about the cloaks and tall pointy hats.
What is it? Well, from what I have learned, it is basically a week long celebration for the city, and among the Catholic community, it is sort of a celebration of faith and an acknowledgement of the trials and suffering of Jesus in the last week of his life. It really ends up being a flashy show of who can wear the fanciest outfits and sponsor the best procession.
The city during Holy Week: Starting the Monday before Holy week even began (I’m talking like April 7th), the city was swarming with visitors from all over the world. I heard English everywhere, wasn’t the only one wearing shorts, and the sidewalks were at times impassable. Streets and sidewalks were fenced off, churros stands and souvenir carts popped up out of nowhere, Sevici (that’s the bikes that I rent) stands were turned off, and bleachers were constructed in streets.
For these reasons and the perceived annoyance of so many foreigners in the streets, many Sevillanos leave the city (or the country) for Semana Santa. [Fun fact, I went to Madrid and Toledo for three days, but there were almost as many crowds there.]
Processions themselves: So the week is made up of processions through the streets that everyone gets super excited to go out and see. Now, a Spanish person would probably cringe if they heard me describe it like this, but the best way I can think to describe the processions is like a parade. Individual churches throughout the city organize their procession, where they take a paso on a walk from their church to the Seville Cathedral and back to their church. It sounds easy enough, right? Well some of the processions can last 14 hours. They are fairly slow moving. Now, going along with the parade description, the pasos are like floats. Constructed of wood as early as the 15th century, the pasos depict a grieving Virgin (lamenting the torture and murder of her son, Jesus), or Jesus Christ himself in various stages of crucifixion. All of the pasos are magnificently detailed and despite their gruesome themes, they are very beautiful. They are also incredibly valuable and old. For these reasons, the processions do not occur if there is a possibility of rain for the day. Another interesting thing about the pasos is that they are carried by men all over the city. Think about how heavy it is! It’s all wood and fancy adornments and who knows what else. Back in the day, the dock workers used to carry the pasos, but now it’s just normal men who are honored to carry the paso. They have to train a lot to carry it in sync-I saw them practicing together in Plaza Nueva about two weeks before Semana Santa even began!
There is a specific order to the processions. First, there will be people carrying a big wooden cross that guides the procession. Then, there will be lots of people dressed in the long cloaks specific to their brotherhood, carrying large candles, wearing the tall hoods and sometimes walking barefoot. They are called nazarenos, or penitents, and have received the immense honor of paying penance anonymously in the procession. After the nazarenos, there will be a group of altar boys/acolytes. (Fun fact: the mothers of the altar boys will show up periodically throughout the procession with quick snacks or little sandwiches for their sons– the processions are long!). Next in line is the paso, the most important part. Sometimes people applaud, sometimes there is silence, or cries of joy and spontaneously sung songs that pertain to the celebration. Sometimes there will be a band following the paso, but not always. I liked seeing the bands because they were made up of musicians from middle school age all the way up to grandparent age, all marching together and playing music together. After the band, there will be more people who look like the nazarenos, but their hats aren’t pointed. They carry wooden crosses and are making a public penance.
Attitudes about Semana Santa in Seville: Like I touched on before, there are some citizens of Seville who flee the country leave Spain for Holy Week to avoid the crowds and tourists. There are some who disapprove of the whole tradition, lamenting that the overflow of respect and care for the cherished pasos amounts to idolatry (this is certainly a justifiable sentiment, in my opinion). And there are still others among the natives who love Semana Santa, rising early and going to sleep late, following all of the processions year after year. The avid Semana Santa goers are mostly the strongly Catholic (this makes sense, as they understand the confradias and brotherhoods behind the processions, who’s history makes it all the more interesting), and also older people (this also makes sense), but reactions to the tradition really depend on the person. From what I’ve seen of the young people of Seville, who receive a week off of school for the celebration, the week is full of late nights, parties, and drinking by the river: normal activities for your Spanish teenager.
My two cents: I didn’t like Semana Santa that much. I don’t like crowds, I don’t like drunk people I don’t know, and I don’t like people getting drunk to celebrate the ultimate sacrifice made by the Son of God. I felt like the whole week was very showy and loud, really just a show to make money off of the tourists. For this reason, I didn’t go out and experience as much of Semana Santa as I probably should have. Also, since I am not Catholic and don’t know much about Saints of Seville or the history of the confradias and churches here, all of the processions began to look the same to me. I just don’t know enough about it to fully appreciate it! I am very glad that I saw the processions that I saw, and I took some really great pictures. I was excited at the idea of what I thought would be a refreshing celebration of religious and spiritual mentality, but because of the crowds and grand displays, I just didn’t feel that. It was very cool to see the processions, but I think that in order to have a more personal experience and form a more educated opinion, it is necesary to go to a smaller town to see the processions there.
Here, enjoy some of my pictures!
Sam Goes to Spain 
Good job Samantha……still an experience you will always remember!