Holy (Week) Moly Rocky!

Semana Santa (aka Holy Week) goes from Palm Sunday (el Domingo de Ramos) to Easter Sunday (but there aren't really processions on Easter, unless you are in Sevilla). I don't know a whole lot about it (read: don't blame me if something I post here is completely wrong), but what I do know is that Andalucía, and Sevilla in particular, is the master of the Semana Santa spectacular.

Chairs set up for the processions in Sevilla.

Each day during Holy Week there are processions through the city. However, if it is raining, like it was this year, they call them off. It rained every single day except for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday (as I remember). It is a big deal to call them off because people practice all year for this one week.

As far as I can tell, when they do happen, the processions consist of:

Nazarenos (which used to be only men, but apparently now women are allowed, sometimes. Not sure on the rules and regulations):

Nazarenos on Palm Sunday in Alcalá.

The red capirote means it's a different brotherhood
than the other (black) one above.

Alcalá. The capirotes are not conducive to talking.
Which is good because the Nazarenos are not supposed to.

Costaleros:

Getting their heads ready to carry the 'float'.

Getting their backs ready to carry the float.
It apparently requires you to take off your pants.

Carrying the 'float' (Alcalá).

Penitentes:

Bands:

El paso del Cristo (which depict different scenes from the Bible):

And El paso de palio (Mary):

The processions start and end at church. They leave at maybe 4 PM, make their way through the city and return to the church around midnight. Some are longer, some are shorter. Some start earlier, some start later. There are no set rules.

I believe that there are different brotherhoods, different 'floats' and different bands every day. You get one day to strut your stuff on the streets of Andalucía (or wherever you might be).

These videos are not in slow-motion. The processions take forever. You need to put on your Patience Pants when you watch them. The crowds are also a factor. If you, like me, do not like crowds you may not enjoy watching the processions from the sidewalks. You can always watch them on TV or listen to them on the radio (I heard the bus driver listening to them one day. I was curious about what they talk about for hours, but I assumed it was much like what MLB announcers talk about for hours.)

Here's a video of the Paso del Cristo leaving the church in Sevilla on Saturday. Remember that it is moving by means of a group of men underneath it. I can't imagine how difficult it is to navigate this through the streets of the city, especially at the corners. And, the costaleros have a special way of walking so that it looks like the figure on the float is walking too.

And because every holiday needs it's own special food, here is Semana Santa's:

Torrijas are made with bread, milk, eggs, honey, sugar, cinnamon and olive oil.

Needless to say there was no school this week and the stores and banks were closed basically from Wednesday through Sunday. It would have been a great time to take a trip, but unfortunately for all of us, it rained on our parade.