This past week I had the pleasure to experience Semana Santa in Sevilla, which is essentially the Paso capital of the world. What is a paso, you ask? Let me explain :)
Semana Santa, aka Holy Week, is the one week where everyone in Spain is an extraordinarily devout Catholic. The pasos, which start on Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos), are all scheduled down the the half hour and they last all the way until Easter Sunday (Pascua). The point of the procession of the paso is to carry the structure from your church through the streets of Sevilla to the Cathedral. Once inside, mass is said and the structures are blessed. The whole thing is done as a pilgrimage and a penance in preparation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Each paso consists of the portadores (between 20 and 30), who carry the large paso, the capataz, who directs the men carrying the structure, and a llamador, which is basically a knocker on the paso that the capataz uses to signal to the men when to set down the paso or pick it up. Now this might sound simple, but the men under the paso actually can't see anything so the job of the capataz is extremely important. He tells them when to turn, how much to turn, how fast to go, how slow, and when they can rest/keep going. Each paso is so large that when they turn they have to pivot and then move forward. The pasos are all at least 400 years old, made out of hand carved wood and silver or gold-plated. They all have intricate statues of either Jesus or Mary, and they are literally the most extravagant things I have ever seen.
Each church that has a procession has both a Mary and a Jesus. And each procession also has sets of Nazarenos (the kkk people) and two marching bands. The entire group and procession is so slow and there are so many people that when standing in one spot, it takes an hour and a half for one procession to completely pass you. The entire process of going to the Cathedral and coming back takes on average 10 hours. The portadores are on rotating shifts but the nazarenos don't get a break.
Overall the entire experience was amazing! All of the Spaniards get extremely dressed up for the occasion, and the entire city takes a break and their lives revolve around the pasos. Unfortunately this year was the rainiest Semana Santa in 80 years and because of this many of the pasos couldn't go out. People were so upset they were literally sobbing. It was quite the experience.
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| This is my neighbor Enrique and his cousin Jose, and Meag. Enrique inspected us before we went to watch pasos to make sure we were dressed up enough! |
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| A Nazareno getting started young. So cute! |
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| Jesus de la Hiniesta, the church from my neighborhood. This is "my" paso |
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| La Virgen de la Hiniesta |
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| Another Nazareno |
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| This is a Palm Sunday depiction complete with a real palm tree |
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| A paso leaving the Cathedral after being blessed |
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| A Last Supper paso complete with all 12 disciples, Jesus and a real table with food and everything |
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| Because the pasos take so long they end at night, this is the Hiniesta coming in at 2:30am by candlelight |
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| La Virgen at night |
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| A paso in Cádiz |
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| In just one row there are 12 sets of feet. Imagine how many men there are total! |
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| The men underneath literally can't see anything because they are completely covered. This is all happening in 70 degree heat, mind you. |
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| That's a real bed or iris flowers |
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| Easter Sunday mass with the girls! And a pic infront of our very own Virgen de la Hiniesta |
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