La Pascua en España

Semana Santa is literally translated as "Holy Week", and it takes place the week preceding Easter, during which the many different brotherhoods of the Catholic churches perform processions down the streets of Sevilla (and many other cities throughout Spain).These processions are also referred to as "pasos", but are basically parades of men and women with floats of the Virgin Mary and the crucifixion of Jesus, which are carried by atleast 20 men (maybe more?) that can't see where they are going, and the floats are covered with tall candles that sway with each move that it makes--but somehow it is still rare for the floats to catch on fire!! The pasos also include nazarenos (the people that look like the KKK), bands and people that light incense while they parade through the streets. The streets get very crowded, and prior to Semana Santa, I was warned by my professors and host family that if I were to be walking on the streets before, during or after one of the processions, that it may take me a few hours to get to where I want to go!

I promise they're not in the KKK!

Though it is normally always rainy during Semana Santa, the weather was so awful that the processions were continuously canceled--especially the ones that I was told were the best to see, including La Macarena and Los Gitanos (gypsies). Although the weather was awful, I still managed to see the last paso of the entire week, on Easter Sunday. While I was also warned that Easter Sunday is not a "big deal" in Spain, thus the best processions would not take place on this day, I am still happy that I was able to see one since the rest were all rained out. Perhaps this wasn't the "best" paso, but it still demonstrated to me the "basics" of Semana Santa processions, and without the annoying crowds that would have been present, had it been one of the more popular brotherhoods.

Outside of the cathedral after the Easter service.

After watching the paso for awhile, we attended the Easter service in the cathedral, which although Easter is not a "big deal" in Spain, was very crowded--mostly with tourists, though, I presume. The service was two-and-a-half hours... in Spanish of course... and it was a Catholic service, so I barely followed what was going on, but it was still a cool experience, especially being able to hear the beautiful, gigantic organ that only plays on very special occasions, like holidays. (We were warned before we entered the cathedral that the service would be 2.5 hours and that we had to stay for the entire thing, also.. we debated it for awhile, but I decided that we might as well go, because while there was another shorter service; only 30 minutes; afterward, it would not include the organs... plus, we were already there, and would've had to wait 2.5 hours for the next one anyways!) To be honest, I don't have too much to comment on the service, except that I loved hearing the organs; especially Beethoven's 5th as the first piece!... and that other than that, it seemed like a "normal" Catholic service (according to Michaeline, who I went with, whom is a religion major and a practicing Catholic), with hymns, glorias and kyries and all.