If you want to experience something completely different yet
extremely fascinating, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is what you are looking for.
Each community around Spain has its own way to celebrate this week, but you
will definitely feel the real passion and the essence of the festival in
Seville. Here are some tips that might help you understand Semana Santa a
little better:
- Semana Santa is the staging of the passion of Jesus Christ. Therefore, each church builds beautiful ‘parihuelas’, which carry the most beautiful statures.
- Each brotherhood has to walk from their church, to the Cathedral, and back to their church again.
- Don’t be afraid of the ‘nazarenos’. These are people dressed up with tunics of different colors depending on the brotherhood they belong to. They wear a peculiar mask that covers everything except their eyes and it looks as if they were wearing huge cones in their heads.
- ‘Nazarenos’ are the penitents that walk besides the ‘parihuelas’. It is considered a truly honor to do this; therefore, ‘nazarenos’ are proud of themselves. This opportunity is not available to everyone; it only passes from generation to generation.
- ‘Costaleros’ are the ones that carry the ‘parihuela’ with all the weight of the statue in their shoulders and back. This is a very demanding and risky labor; ‘costeleros’ have to be prepared and willing to work as a team.
- Be prepared to see millions of people. A lot of tourists come to Seville specially to witness the Semana Santa. Streets and hotels in Seville will be completely full and it will be hard to get from one point of the historic center to the other.
It is very important for you to have an open mind to be able
to enjoy the Semana Santa as much as possible. It is something you don’t get to
see every day.
