Semana Santa 2012...I mean 2011

So this post is special...SUPER DUPER delayed...as in I wrote it a year ago and never got around to posting it haha. I figured since since it's Semana Santa again, it's fitting to post it now. Better late than never, right?

I just wanted to give y'all a look into what the Easter celebration is like here in Spain. Instead of celebrating only Easter Sunday, the celebration, called Semana Santa or "Holy Week," starts on Palm Sunday (Domingo de ramas), the Sunday before Easter, and continues for the duration of the week. It's the Spanish spring break, so to speak, as there is no school and from Thursday to Easter Sunday, no one has to work. However, considering what this week represents, it bears absolutely no resemblance to a typical American spring break. 

Like I said before, Semana Santa begins on domingo de ramas (Palm Sunday) and continues through lunes santo, martes santo, miércoles santo, jueves santo (that's Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, etc), viernes de dolores (Good Friday), sábado santo (Holy Saturday), and domingo de la resurrección (Easter Sunday). Rather than explaining what exactly Semana Santa is in my own words, I'll let Wikipedia do the work for me. According to Wikipedia...

"Sevilla, Málaga, Zamora, and León hold elaborate processions for Holy Week. A tradition that dates from medieval times which has spread to other cities in Andalucía, the Semana Santa in Sevilla is notable for featuring the procession of 'pasos', lifelike wood or plaster sculptures of individual scenes of the events that happened between Jesus' arrest and his burial, or images of the Virgin Mary showing grief for the torture and killing of her son. In Málaga the lifelike wooden or plaster sculptures are called 'tronos' and they are carried through the streets by penitentes, or penitents, dressed in long purple robes, often with pointed hats, followed by women in black carrying candles (mantillas) for up to 11 hours. These pasos and tronos are physically carried on the necks of costaleros (literally 'sack men', because of the costal, a sack-like cloth that they wear over their neck, to soften the burden)...and can weigh up to five metric tons. The pasos are set up and maintained by hermandades and cofradías, religious brotherhoods that are common to a specific area of the city, whose precede the paso dressed in Roman military costumes or penitential robes. Those members who wish to do so wear these penitential robes with conical hats, or capirotes, used to conceal the face of the wearer (these robes intentionally served as the basis for the traditional uniform for members of the  Ku Klux Klan in the United States). [They] carry processional candles, may walk the city streets barefoot, and may carry shackles and chains in their feet as penance. A brass band, marching band, a drum and bugle band, or in Malaga's case a military band (such as that of the Spanish Legion or other military units) may accompany the group, playing funeral marches, religious hymns or 'marchas' written for the occasion."

I went to the processions here in Almería on Monday and Tuesday. We tried to go on Thursday and Sunday as well but they ended up getting rained out. Monday was my first glimpse at Semana Santa. I was excited to go because our friend Alberto was going to be a costalero, which as explained above is one of the people who carries the paso, or giant float-like object. I arrived downtown at 8pm and we saw one of the other processions before moving on to grab some dinner and then catch Alberto's procession as it passed through La Rambla, one of the main streets in downtown Almería.

At my first procession, I knew nothing about what was going on, so I was getting explanations left and right as people passed by me. The first thing I asked about was who the KKK guys were haha. Lulu explained to me that they were called penitentes. Essentially, they are people who want to repent for their sins and they basically make a deal with God that they're going to walk in a Semana Santa procession to repent and in exchange their sins will be forgiven. Depending upon the procession of which the penitente is a part, they will carry a candle, a cross, a lantern, or various other objects. From the moment they put on their cloak and hood to the moment that the procession is over, they are not allowed to talk. Some take this more seriously than others because I definitely saw some talking amongst each other as well as with people in the crowds. Speaking of taking this seriously, some penitentes also choose to take it one step further by going shoe-less or even wearing chains around their ankles. That, however, is completely up to the discretion of the penitente. Note the penitente at left...no shoes.


As mentioned in the Wikipedia article, the processions are organized and pasos are maintained by hermandades (literally "brotherhoods") and cofradías which are basically groups of people that go to the same Catholic church. I was surprised to find out that the penitentes, mantillas, and costaleros don't have to be members of the hermandad, cofradia, or church which organizes the procession in order to participate. In fact, you don't have to be Catholic or even religious. I found that somewhat strange.

One of the Virgins from Lunes Santo

Note the elaborate embroidery underneath the canopy

The costalero was hungry, so we stopped at McDonald's haha

Alberto in full costalero attire

More penitentes--la procesión de la pasión

El Cristo de la pasión

Pardon the descriptions of these videos because I'm writing them a year later and I don't remember details. 

The first video is of La Virgen del Amor (the Virgin of love) and was filmed in la Puerta Purchena in the heart of downtown Almería, on Martes Santo (4/19/2011). At first the paso is stopped and when the man knocks on it, the costaleros raise it up and everyone claps.Then the procession proceeds up the street. There are probably like 40+ men underneath the paso carrying it.

The second video is of el Cristo del perdón (the Christ of Forgiveness) and was also filmed on Martes Santo (4/19/2011). You'll notice that this video is radically different from the first. First, this paso is a "Cristo" rather than a "Virgin." Second, the costaleros, dressed all in black, carry this one from the outside via thick wooden beams that protrude from both sides rather than from underneath. Third, there is no music. This procession is carried out in silence with the beating of drums and ringing of bells being the only sound. Additionally, the penitentes don't wear the conical hats but instead regular black hoods and none of them are allowed to wear shoes.

 

The third video is also of el Cristo del perdón (the Christ of Forgiveness) but this one shows the encierro, which is the last part of the procession when the costaleros put the paso back inside the church. In this video you'll see several things. First, you can see the costaleros change positions when they stop for the first time. Second, you'll see some guys swinging around some little black things with smoke coming out...it's burning incense, the signature smell of Semana Santa. Third, notice that no one applauds when the paso is raised. And finally, watch how slowly and methodically they move and how long it takes them to turn the float from one direction to another.

This last video from Lunes Santo (4/18/2011) also shows the encierro but this time of the Cristo de la pasión (the Christ of passion), the one Alberto was helping to carry. This encierro is quite different from the one above. The music is much more joyful and the people applaud as it enters the church. P.S. Sorry you have to cock your head to watch it.

I think that to any non-Spaniard, at least initially, this entire week is really overwhelming and just a little bizarre. The attire, the marching through the streets, the dedication with which people follow the processions; it all seemed a bit cult-like to me, and I'm religious. I can only imagine what a non-religious person might think of this.


On the other hand, I found it weird that not only religious people participate. There are plenty of people who don't go to church who decide to be penitentes or costaleros. One of my friends explained to me that although you might not be religious, one specific Virgin or Christ might be really special to you and so you choose to participate in that procession. I still don't really get it, but oh well. 

The last thing that really struck me about this was that while there are tons and tons of super religious people who follows the pasos from start to finish, there are also the people who just go to watch because they want to hang out with their friends. Tons of teenagers were wandering around in groups, laughing, making noise, and just generally disrupting what I thought was supposed to be a really solemn and serious occasion. As the younger generations are becoming less and less religious, this becomes more of a spectacle and less of a celebration of the Catholic Holy Week. 

Overall, I'd say I was intrigued by the weeks events. There is NOTHING comparable in the States it was super cool to get to experience it. While I did at one point get tired of watching the processions (they move EXTREMELY slow considering how heavy the pasos are and we stayed for hours and hours on end), looking back, I'm glad I stuck it out.