Semana Santa

Semana Santa in Sevilla was absolutely incredible. It was a cultural experience to say the least. This tradition started around 1350 and by 1578 there were 30 processions. Processions called pasos are like the picture below. Every church has a hermandad, or brotherhood, that makes these processions. Each procession has a Christ "float" and a Virgin Mary "float". Float is definitely not the right word for these beautifully, intricate pasos.

The gorgeous Virgin Mary on the float from y bosses' hermandad, los negritos. All of the floats were similar but the details were different. The first day I watched the pasos with my house madre and brother. My house madre said that I had the eyes of the Mary of that procession... crystal clear blue. ahhhh :)

Nazarenos doing penitence through walking the 12-14 hour procession through the streets of Sevilla. Some even choose to make the pilgrimage barefoot. Yes. They do look like the KKK but the KKK actually stole their dress from the Semana Santa people. There are also groups of walkers carrying large crosses called penitentes. Under each paso there are between 24-54 costaleros carrying these massively heavy floats. Some hermandades have bands that will play and march behind the processions as well.

It was awesome to be living here during this tradition. Yes, it may be a little extravagant but it's culture. Over a million people travel to this city every year just to see it all. Other parts of Spain also have similar holy weeks but Sevilla is one of the most well known. The streets were completely packed every single day starting from about 3pm and lasting until 2-3 in the morning. Around 60 different processions went out over the week.

I definitely loved Semana Santa!!