Semana Santa: Impresionante! Y una locura!

Mateo 28:5-6
El ángel les dijo a las mujeres: No tengan miedo. Yo sé que ustedes buscan a Jesús que fue clavado en una cruz. No esta aquí. Se ha levantado de la muerte tal como dijo que haría.



As I open this word document and enter text, attempting to sum up this past week suddenly seems impossible. The truth is 'Holy Week' in Spain has left me....speechless; and that's saying something! Semana Santa has been a surprisingly (but welcomed) significant cultural experience/shock and learning curve regarding the Catholics in Spain!

As explained in SOL Spain online: Starting on Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday), and ending on Domingo de Resurrección (Easter Sunday), there are 57 brotherhoods that pay the religious visit to the Cathedral of Seville, the third largest Cathedral in the world. It obviously is a religious celebration, but atheists too will be marveled by this impressive happening that lasts a week. It could well be considered the biggest and longest open-air theatre performance, where the city as a whole is the stage and the people of Seville themselves are the actors. The number of spectators may rise up to the impressing number of one million people during the most important moments of Semana Santa in Seville: the early morning of Good Friday which is when the brotherhoods of el Silencio, el Gran Poder, La Macarena, El Calvario, La Esperanza de Triana and los Gitanos set off for their processional penitence to the Cathedral.

Well, I think I'm going to take the advice of Julie Andrews: 'Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.' So whilst Kate, Christen and Erica headed to Roma for a couple of days (they went to mass with the POPE!!!), I took off to Sevilla to greet my family! They arrived in SVQ airport on the Monday of Holy Week and we took a rather dodgy hire car to Granada. Yes, this was a nice welcome for my poor family, who left Chester at 4am to catch a 7am flight to Spain! Oh, but it was Ryan Air, so they were treated like royalty. Ahem*. Having picked up our focus estate car, we joined the motorway and headed east to Granada. About 45 minutes down the road a constant thumping noise could be heard from my side of the car, so we pulled into a petrol station. My Dad gets out, takes one look at the bumper of the car and cries out 'CRIKEY!' Oh dear. Not good news. Half of the bumper had dislodged and was hanging off the car, which was the bashing we'd heard before. Check out the picture below...

So, quick test of my spanish! I had a chat with the man at the counter and explained our situation. He comes out to have a look and proclaims 'Joder! Un golpe no?' (F***! You hit something right?) Well actually no, the spanish are just so unprofessional that they don't bother to check their cars before renting them to holidaymakers! Ugh! Anyway, I politely requested that he find us some string, to which he walks over to a flag pole, chops off a chunk of the string for us and wishes us luck. Joe and Dad managed to tie it on and, after that small unforeseen delay, we were back on the road to Granada! Welcome to Spain.


Granada
On arrival in Granada, we spent half an hour cruising around the city, (aka trying to find our hotel without a map!) It is here in the beautiful and usually peaceful city, nestled in the mountain range of la Sierra Nevada that we stumble across our first.....virgin! Oh yes, Holy Week here is a little different to the Easter celebrations that take place in the UK. Forget a cute easter egg hunt with the kids in the garden or big hollow cadburys chocolate eggs that are 70% packaging. Forget a little easter egg tree by the fire, or easter baskets if you're Murikan! Try this for a change.... 14 hour processions of models of the Virgin Mary and others of Jesus in the city centres depicting the greatest story ever told, hundreds of hooded & cloaked 'penitentes', bands with dozens of musicians with instruments ranging from clarinets & saxophones, to drums, trombones & oboes, hoards of people lining the streets, waiting at 3am for the sighting of 'la Macarena' with her glass tears, reaching out to touch the float and exclaiming 'preciosa! bonita!', the air filled with scents of incense, Spanish women wearing black dresses and veils and leaving a scent of rich perfume behind them, televised all over Spain.... It's absolutely spot on what was stated before by SOL Spain online: 'the city becomes a stage and the people become the actors.'
This, my dear readers, is Semana Santa. Easter: Spanish style.
Even though I may sit for hours trying to describe the festival to you and add photos to help you visualize it, ultimately my words and the images I upload will fail to fully portray this week of traditional and 'religious' events in Andalucia. It's one of those 'You had to be there' experiences. You need to experience it for yourself to fully appreciate and vaguely comprehend the madness that floods the country for a full week. Nevertheless I will do my best to describe the undescribable!



Every city we visited that week; Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla were swarming with people; the Spanish label the huge crowds following the processions as 'la Bulla.' I had been warned about the crowds from many locals in Valverde, most of whom escape to the country during this week. Whereas before I was able to sympathise with them, I can now say that I truely empathize with them! Thousands upon thousands of people come, some in penitence, others in fesitve spirits, to spectate as dozens of models of the virgin and Jesus on 'tronos', I guess we would call them floats, are lifted by the so called 'Costaleros'. (These men go unseen as they are covered under the floats) The tronos are carried slowly through the streets of Sevilla, from their local churches to the cathedral and back again. Each procession lasts .... 14 hours. Yes, they take shifts! The 'penitentes' are members of the fraternity that perform the authentic act of penitence carrying a wooden cross and walking barefoot. They dress like Nazarenos but without a 'capirote' (cone)on their heads like others in the processions.



We were apparantly very fortunate to see la Macarena (the patron Virgin Mary of Sevilla) who is only uncovered once a year for the public, and so seeing her is somewhat of a 'treat' and 'emotional deal'. For the Sevillians each Virgin is different, unique and special (although they all looked the same to me!!) and are sometimes called 'La Dolorosa' (hurt), 'La Amargura' (bitterness) or 'La Esperanza' (hope). I was having a drink with the girls on a street corner, sharing tales of our travels & occassionally chatting with the barman or locals, when I received the text from my Dad that read "Going to c big one vgin de la macarena do u want 2 meet up?" So I phoned him and mum answered. She said he was in the bathroom to which I responded "Oh, I thought he was out looking for virgins. " -Needless to say, I got a few looks! So, we managed to find each other in the crowds, planned a route and set off in search of the Macarena. After waiting on the spot along with thousands of other people for 1.5hours, she finally arrives at 3am (la madrugada) and STOPS right infront of us! What a treat! hehe. After a 30 second break she's off again and Dad & I try to find our way back to the hotel-which is not as easy as it sounds when half the streets are blocked with human bodies!!!


Honestly, I admire and respect the effort that is put into the week; having to organize thousands of people who take part in the processsions. At least Spain has some pride and traditions still retained in the country; it was very clear how this week brought the people together as one nation and for that I salute you Spain! However, 'no tiene mucho sentido para mi!' The processions were all very similar, and as intense and interesting the experience and atmosphere was that week, it started becoming comical for my family and I! We'd be walking through the narrow and beautiful streets of Cordoba, trying to avoid the crowds, and suddenly a waft of incense would fill the air and the hair on the back of our necks would prick up... that was the first sign, and shortly afterwards we would see shadows of hooded figures holding large wooden crosses or oversized candles. We'd turn the corner and .....yep you guessed it... LA VIRGEN! Hundreds of people swarming around the float of the virgin; reaching out, pushing and shoving to get that bit closer to the model.

La Alhambra y Mesquita

We did however make it through the crowds and visited both the Alhambra, Granada and La Mesquita (mosque) in Cordoba. Both of which were beautiful. La Alhambra requires you to book well in advance, whereas the Mesquita just rips you off at the entrance! See the photos below of the two beautiful and historic monuments of Spain.

La Alhambra

La Alhambra, (meaning 'The Red Fortress') is a palace and fortress complex constructed in the mid 14th Century by the Moors (the last muslim Kings before the 'reconquista' of the Catholic Kings). La Alhambra is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our visit entailed both a leisurely stoll around the gardens of Generallife (pronounced by the Spanish as Henayral leafay!!!- nice) and of course the Alcazaba, listening to our Audioguides which became increasingly irritating as the language was very OTT and poetic! The sun was shining bright that day, and I think we all got rather pink! So we enjoyed 5 hours in the grounds of la Alhambra (getting our moneys worth Dad ;p).

Granada itself offers some spectacular views of La Sierra Nevada (Spain's highest mountain range), the only higher point being that of the volcano Teide in Tenerife- which we visited a few years ago! And got pink there too! The city itself is almost divided in two. There is the older part of the town which reminded me of the film Chocolat, a small town feel, with old terraced houses built along the stream that flows below the castle. The city is very hilly, and we climbed in the heat to the famous square where Victoria Hislop's novel 'The Return' is based. (Author of the international bestseller 'The Island') The modern part of the city is like most other small cities with all the shopping you can possibly need and (to remind you that you're in Europe) the odd cathedral and church plotted around various squares. Food wise; we found a cute little Gallecian restaurant down a side street and enjoyed the typical Galician dish pulpo (octopus), paella and lots of red wine! Delicious!

From Granada (which means pomegranate!) we continued our journey to Cordoba. The journey itself only took 90 minutes, however once we arrived in the city of Cordoba we drove around for another HOUR trying to locate our hotel. Cordoba's narrow, winding streets are part of what gives the city character; and as a pedestrian it's quite enjoyable walking down them. However, in a car it proves to be a nightmare; one way systems, dozens of tiny streets that don't feature on the map, literally no parking or turning zones. I think my poor Dad drove out and back into the city 4 times!!!! Finally, after winding down the window and asking the locals (who usually proclaim; todo recto hasta la plaza y pregunta otra vez! Keep going straight ahead until you reach the square and then ask again!) This is the typical advice given by the Spaniards when you ask for directions! We finally reached the hotel which was perfectly located (by foot), in the centre down a little side street within 10 minutes walk of the Mesquita! The rest of the day was made up of discovering the city, the famous Mesquita and enjoying typical Semana Santa dulces (cakes) and yes...more processions. We did stumble across some beautiful gardens (on yet another of Dad's infamous circular walks) that were free for visitors on wednesdays- TOMA! So that became our escapism for a while.... Sevilla

Last stop, mi amor... no unfortunately Ryan didn't show up, but that would have been sweet, i'm refering to my favourite city in the world; Sevilla! This year I have visited Sevilla several times, and each time I fall more in love with it; just when you think you know the city inside out, it surprises you as you discover something new. It is so unique with its atmosphere, it's famous tapas & flamenco bars, the maze that is Barrio de Santa Cruz, la Giralda and spectacular cathedral that holds Christopher Columbus' tomb, dining along the river and the nightlife zone of Triana, churros stands, bullfights at the famous & ancient Plaza de Toros, horses and carriages, orange trees and the smell of blossom year round, shopping and helados...my point is I LOVE SEVILLA and so I finally bought the T-shirt that declares it....tacky? Sorry, it had to be done! We spent the rest of the day in the glorious sunshine, trying to avoid the crowds- but of course failing...Sevilla was a crowd!

Finally, after my parents dropped me off in my town of Valverde, we decided we were 'virgined' out?! haha. However, the girls and I received news that la Veronica was about to 'salir' from the local church.... well, we felt we had to support our town and attend! We arrived to find the whole town out in the Plaza awaiting the Virgin. The procession was very similar to all the others we had previously seen, just on a smaller scale. The only shocking difference was that three (carefully selected) seventeen year old girls from the town were dressed as the three Marys: Mary of Cleopas, Mary Magdalane and Mary, mother of James & John, followed by the Virgin Mary! They were dressed identical, except for the Virgin Mary who wore a different colour. We didn't quite know how to respond to this... we were once again... speechless.

To help you to visualise it better; this is a video of the parade that took place in my town!

Well that's all folks. A belated Happy Easter to you all! He is risen!

Besos y abrazos! Cor xXx