Apr 12th, 2009
Semana Santa
Semana Santa is Spanish for Holy Week, the religious observance leading up to Easter Sunday. This past week, thousands of Sevillanos and tourists filled the streets to observe the striking pasos in their processions throughout the streets of Sevilla. Pasos consist of a set of religious images, usually life-sized (or larger) wood-carved and painted statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and other religious scenes. These images are fixed atop a float lavishly adorned with newly polished gold, silver, fresh flowers, and lit candles, and in total each paso usually weighs more than 2,000 pounds. This week, I saw processions with anywhere from 25 to 60 men underneath the paso, bearing the full weight of it on their shoulders as they marched in procession from their respective church to the Catedral (Cathedral) of Sevilla and back again: a process lasting hours. Members of the church’s hermandad (brotherhood) – nazarenos – solemnly marched in front of the paso carrying long candles and incense, while others accompanied it playing traditional religious hymns.
Needless to say, Semana Santa in Sevilla is a really big deal.
But as I was standing on the sidewalk, trying not to step on anyone’s toes in the midst of a crowd patiently waiting for the chance to view the paso of the hermandad Santo Entierro, I couldn’t help but marvel at the contradictions in a society where 94 percent of the population is Catholic, but less than 20 percent of the Catholics attend church with regularity. After Franco’s repressive dictatorship when Catholicism was the official state religion (and forcibly imposed on the population), today 51.3 percent of Catholics simply consider themselves non-practicing Catholics. Sevillanos observe their religious traditions with fervor, and they went out to the streets every day and night during Semana Santa to view the pasos in an atmosphere of respectful solemnity and awe. At the same time, in this increasingly secularized society, street vendors in the plazas hawked cotton candy, popcorn, and glow-in-the-dark toys as if the processions were part of a grand celebratory parade.
While the overwhelming presence and strength of traditional Catholic symbols and images in Spain make religiosity utterly palpable in annual events like Semana Santa, it is curious to me that Spain has legalized gay marriage, eased divorce law, and expanded the rights of transsexuals. On Good Friday, the New York Times printed an article about Spain’s battle to legalize abortion.
Semana Santa was like nothing else I have ever seen in my life, and further confirmed the complexity, contradictions, and rich history surrounding Spanish culture. But despite the supposed great honor it is to be one of the nazarenos carrying the pasos for hours on end during Semana Santa, I’m pretty pleased that I don’t have to do it.
*pictures to come