Monday (April 2)
It rained and then it poured. Only two processions even braved beginning during a slight reprieve from the rain, and that turned out to be a mistake that required seeking shelter in the nearest church. Although I had to work and so missed all the action when the two processions had to take refuge, Jaime and I watched what was going on through Sevilla’s news channel online. I also had the task of updating any of our clients that wanted information about the situation of processions. One American lady and her daughter decided to attempt to see one of the processions and were successful; however, when they returned they were drenched despite their umbrellas and they had me take their picture in order to remember the occasion. I felt really bad for all the brotherhoods and the huge disappointment it was for them. Especially because some of them missed last year as well due to the rain, so two years in a row is quite a bummer.
Tuesday
Tuesday was the suspenseful waiting game. The threat of rain lingered throughout the afternoon, causing a lot of brotherhoods to cancel their processions, however it wasn’t until around 6:30pm that the rain actually began. There were also some thunder claps mixed in with the rain but it wasn’t quite as heavy as Monday. But rain is rain, and as a result not a single procession took place. I couldn't believe that we would get the rain practically every day during Semana Santa, after months without a drop. This would happen during the only week that rain was not desired.
Wednesday
No rain at last!!! All nine processions took place without a problem. Unfortunately, due to being at work until nine, I missed seeing three of them. However as I was leaving work I was able to see the largest procession of the night, that consisted of 2,400 Nazarenos from the brotherhood of San Bernardo, that passed by a street right next to the hotel. It was super packed everywhere and in the process of trying to get near to the Cathedral, I found myself squashed between a mass of people and it is very lucky I’m not claustrophobic or it would have been my worst nightmare. I finally managed to free myself from the throng of humanity, and secured a spot that was a relatively good viewing place for the processions, except for a little tree that put up a leafy blockade. However, after La Lanzada procession finished, some people left and I was able to get a position just in front of the tree. It was a perfect spot because I could lean against the tree (standing for hours and hours gets a little tiresome) and I also had a great view of the processions with La Giralda in the background. The only bummer was that with the darkness of night, a lot of what would have been amazing photos, came out really blurry or dim. I got some relatively good ones though, and it made for a great memory anyway.
Of the last four to leave the Cathedral, three of the processions passed by me. They were Cristo de Burgos; that had two pasos, Siete Palabras; that had three, and Los Panaderos; that had two. During the times when the pasos went by, a man came out on a balcony and began to sing in honor of them, and whenever someone sporadically sings from a balcony, the procession halts until they finish. The type of song, which I’m sure has a name but I don’t know or remember, is very uniquely Spanish and kind of has a flamenco-type feel to it. Witnessing a Semana Santa procession is quite the experience, that is for certain.
It was after one in the morning before the last procession finished leaving the Cathedral and I didn’t make it back to the apartment until around 1:30am. Concepción was asleep with the TV on, but fortunately she had left me a sandwich and some fruit for supper, which I had no problem eating since I was more than a little hungry by that point. It was a long day, but definitely worth it to finally get to see some more processions. Wednesday was also the beginning of endings, because I finished my internship at the hotel. Strange how fast it went.
Thursday & Friday
I waited in the Plaza del Duque for about three hours to no avail. It had seemed like a promising day because it started out with the sun shining and barely any clouds in the sky. However, the forecast for rain was too daunting to the brotherhoods and one after another they all ended up canceling their processions. I had figured at least one would attempt it, but no. Such a bummer. It did end up raining a bit, but not very hard or for a long time. We ended up seeing one set of pasos though by going to the Chapel of Monte-Sión since they had opened it up for public to view them.
Monte-Sion Pasos
We spent a couple suspenseful hours watching updates online at Paige’s house in order to see if any of the Madruga (Good Friday morning) processions would go out. During our wait, Paige’s host parents informed us that there were centurions doing a ceremony at the Basilica of Jesús del Gran Poder and that we should go see it. So we went out and watched, from afar due to the huge crowd, a group of men dressed as centurions performing as a band. I learned that they are a part of the brotherhood of the Macarena, and so when they finished at Gran Poder, they headed off to join up with their church. In order to see them closer up, Paige and I did some fast walking/running through some side streets in order to cross paths with them at a less crowded spot. After successfully getting a picture of them, we headed back to Paige’s house and continued the waiting game.
Good news arrived at last as we learned that the Macarena procession had begun at midnight. Then it was off to Plaza del Duque to get a good spot to see it. We were there a few hours before it was scheduled to arrive and those hours of waiting were super tough thanks to it being one of the coldest nights Sevilla’s had in weeks. It didn’t help that I was only wearing a sweater since when I left the apartment at three in the afternoon it wasn’t nearly as cold. While we were waiting though we were able to see at a distance the processions from El Silencio and El Gran Poder pass by. It would have been really convenient if all the processions passed by the same part of the plaza, however, while we had picked good spots to see the Macarena, El Silencio came by on the street at the other end and Gran Poder by yet another street next to the plaza. At around 3am the Macarena began processing by and due to having about 3200 Nazarenos, it didn’t finish going past us until 4:30am.
La Macarena
After the Macarena we headed off to the Basilica of Jesús del Gran Poder in order to get a good spot to see the procession return at 7am. We were some of the first people there and so we were able to sit on a bench in the plaza just outside the church. Again we had another freezing wait and the hours certainly dragged on. Finally the plaza became packed with people and the procession arrived. We watched until the paso of Jesus entered the church and then we were off to find the Esperanza de Triana procession. On our way, we saw the Mary paso for Los Gitanos go through the Duque as well as the Calvario paso enter Magdalena. By the time we arrived at the street that Esperanza de Triana was processing down, it was around 8:30am and despite the sun coming out, it was still really cold. The Esperanza de Triana paso was probably my favorite of all the Mary’s I’ve seen and with the sun shining down on it, it looked absolutely gorgeous. It was definitely worth staying up all night to see it.
Esperanza de Triana
Finally I arrived back at the apartment at around 9:40am and went straight to sleep. I didn’t get up until five, but I still felt exhausted. I’m definitely not the type of person that can handle staying up all night on a regular basis, because that was super draining. However, it made for a Good Friday experience like none other.
I ended up going back out around 9pm to see the procession of La O that was going by the street right next to mine. I could see it from my balcony, but I wanted to get some pictures of the Nazarenos in purple as well as the pasos, so I decided to brave the crowds. During all the processions there are some Nazarenos that hand out pictures of their statues or caramelos (caramels), but normally to children. However, during the Macarena procession, this one Nazareno must have taken pity on Paige and me shivering in the cold and so he gave us each a caramelo and then he also handed me a picture of the Macarena statue. I’m not going to lie I was a little jealous of all the children getting the little pictures because they would have made great souvenirs, so I was thrilled when I received one. Then the police officer standing in front of me started giving me all the pictures that he was handed by the Nazarenos and so I received three from him overall. Then when the procession of La O went by a lady next to me handed me a picture of Mary that she’d received from a Nazareno. I don’t know why people randomly decided to give their pictures, but I certainly wasn’t going to refuse any.
La O
After La O, I went back to the apartment, only to see on TV about fifteen minutes later that the procession from Montserrat was about to go by the street that I’d just been on. So out I went and secured a spot right along the sideline. I had seen the pasos in the Montserrat Chapel already but it is definitely more exciting to see them out in the processions. The Nazarenos for Montserrat were my favorite with their white and blue attire. There was also a girl in the procession that carried a veil with the imprint of Jesus’s face on it which was really neat and something different from all the other processions.
Montserrat
Saturday
It had seemed like forever until I’d leave when I first arrived. Now that the time had arrived and it was my last full day in Sevilla, I found myself not wanting to leave. It’s not that I can’t wait to see other places in Europe and go home as well, but the realization that this life in Sevilla is over for good, is rather a sad thought. I met up with Paige and we sat in the Plaza de Encarnación for a little while eating a farewell yogurt. We both had tons of packing to do, but at the same time, I hated to miss a second of the last memory of a sunshiny afternoon in Sevilla, Spain. I spent a good chunk of time packing and then ate a yummy lunch of green vegetable soup, ham omelet, and a plateful of strawberries with sugar. I normally eat supper with Concepción, but since I had to go to the Easter Vigil Mass since Sunday was spent traveling, I had lunch for a change. After lunch I asked Concepción if I could take a picture of us together and she was very happy to oblige. I couldn’t leave without at least a picture to remember her by and I also promised to send a copy to her once I’m back in the States.
A yummy Spanish lunch
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Concepción and me
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In the late afternoon I went out and watched a couple of the Holy Saturday processions and then it was back to packing. Before I headed to Mass, I went out to Plaza Nueva for the last time to see the unique Santo Entierro procession which had a paso that depicted a skeleton sitting in front of the cross, as well as a paso that consisted of a glass tomb with a statue of Christ inside it. It also was really an interesting to see procession because aside from the brotherhood that sponsored it, all the other brotherhoods had a couple members participate, so there were all sorts of different attired Nazarenos.
Santo Entierro paso
I wanted to see the whole procession, which included another paso, however I didn’t know how packed Mass would get so I reluctantly bid farewell to the plaza and the last procession that I’d be able to see, and hurried to Jesús del Gran Poder. It turned out that I could have stayed for the end since the doors didn’t open until 11pm and so I ended up being relatively early. The Easter Vigil Mass was just like in the States, with the Easter Candle lighting ceremony at the beginning as well as all of us getting candles. The Mass didn’t end until one and as I was walking back to the apartment I passed by a lot of Nazarenos who were heading to their homes after having just finished their procession, La Soledad, that was from the church right next door to Gran Poder. Despite the cold, I didn’t want the walk back to be over, as I tried to take in every little thing about my familiar surroundings. It has been a great experience living in Sevilla, and I’m going to miss the Spanish way of life, with its sunny plazas, lively streets, and easy-going manner.
Sunday
I overslept, and if it weren’t for the music from the last procession of Semana Santa going by the street next to mine, I would have potentially missed the train. Thanks to the drums and trumpets, I was up at 7:30, giving me a half hour to scramble with last minute packing and breakfast, before heading out to meet Paige. I wish I’d gotten up earlier just so I could have spent a little more time with Concepción, however, she offered to help me bring my luggage out to where we’d get the taxi, giving us a little more time before saying our goodbyes. All too soon, I hugged my madre española goodbye and bid farewell to the wonderful city of Sevilla. Ya la echo de menos.
I am now in London at the moment and everything is going great, however, I'm paying five pounds for an hour of internet use and really don't have time to put up any of the happenings from Rome or here. I know that at least in Ireland I'll have internet access in the hotels I'm staying at so maybe I'll have time to put up more recent blogs there...
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