Semana Santa...our first real day

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March 21, 2008

My intercambio told me last week that his church would be having a procession today at 5 close to school. So after watching the procession from a distance last night, Julie and I decided we would head over a little early to get a close seat. We made our way over, an hour or so before, and there were still a ton of people. We went farther down the street and were able to get a spot on the curb. I went to go get some ice cream while Julie staked out our territory. A little bit after I got back, the processions started.

We don’t know if there ended up being two, or if it started earlier than Andrés told me. It was so nice to actually be able to see what was going on. At first was the hermandad with the pointed hats and candles, then was the paso of Jesus. This paso was Jesus on the cross with the two other men on their crosses. Then there were more people from the hermandad carrying crosses, and a band. There was another group of the hermandad that were children, and then little kids dressed in altar server outfits. Another paso, this time of Mary, passed by along with another band. The procession finished, and Julie and I decided to walk around some.

Then we met up with Katie by the river to watch some more. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get as good of spots this time, so we had to watch from the distance. Here we saw 2 separate processions, each with a paso for Jesus and one for Mary. The first one of Jesus was Him on the cross, and the second was Him carrying His cross. The first Mary was my favorite Mary I have seen. It started to get colder, and we were hungry, so we made our way home to eat dinner and watch “Menuda Noche”, a talk show of sorts with little kids. It’s on every Friday night, and we never miss it if possible because it is so funny!

Some interesting things we have noticed about Spain during this special religious holiday that are rather surprising include: the importance of Mary. Probably half of the pasos are of Mary. Since Lent and Easter are about the death of Jesus and not Mary, this is different. The women wear their mourning dresses more on Holy Thursday than Good Friday, which is a bit ironic since Good Friday is when Jesus died. Palm Sunday is more about Mary arriving before the birth of Jesus, than Jesus coming into the city. Easter, the day of the Resurrection, is hardly important compared with the Semana Santa, Holy Week. For being such a devout Catholic country, Spain sure seems to have its Bible history confused when it comes to celebrating holidays!

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