Semana Santa: Una semana de Jesús

During my last two posts I wrote about my adventures during my "Spring Break." In reality, it wasn't really a Spring Break, but a week off for celebration in Spain: Holy Week. Instead of hiding Easter eggs and eating candy on Easter Sunday, the Spanish are a little more intense in their celebrating and dedicate the whole week to eating, socializing, and watching processions. This tradition dates back to the 16th century! I don't want to say every Spaniard, but pretty dang close to almost every Spaniard is Catholic and during Semana Santa they sure show it proudly.

There are many Semana Santa celebrations around Spain, but the one in Sevilla is the most important. Sarah and I did not want to miss out on all of the festivities, so we raced back to Sevilla on Good Friday to see some of the celebrations. Many students traveled for the entire week, but I am so glad that we came back to see some of it. Sevilla was transformed with the thousands of people there to witness the processions!

Pasos

During Semana Santa people from all over the world join the Spaniards in watching the processions. The processions consist of many people and two pasos; one with the Passion of Christ and one with the mourning Virgin Mary. Pasos are very large floats that are made of wood, and covered in gold or silver. They date back to the 16th century and are decorated with flowers, candles, biblical scenes, and a figure of either Christ or the Virgen. These Pasos weigh A LOT and to keep up with tradition are carried on the backs of MEN. The processions last all Holy Week, with a schedule of different processions going different days. 

The mourning Virgen

Churches around Sevilla have their own procession with their own floats. The processions leave from the church, make their way through the city to the Cathedral, and then make their way back to the church. Because of the weight and how fragile the pasos are, the processions go very slowly. They are hours long, some taking even 12 hours! When it is not Semana Santa, they keep the figures of Mary and Christ in the altars in the church.

Virgin Mary in the altar 

Jesus  Christ in an altar

The beautiful detail of the manto de la Virgen. A cloak that the figures where. 

The week before Semana Santa Sarah and I visited the different churches around our barrio (neighborhood) with her host mom to see all of the different Christos, Virgenes, and Pasos that were being set-up.

Look at all of those candles!!

The People of Semana Santa 

Each procession is organized by a different brotherhood from a different church. The brotherhoods organize and upkeep the whole procession process for their church. Every brotherhood is represented by a different color cape worn by the Nazarenos.

Nazarenos

The Nazarenos are various people from the brotherhood who walk alongside the pasos. They wear tall, cone-shaped hats that cover the face. This reminds Americans of a very unpopular group from history, but do not worry, because the two are not related. This type of dress symbolizes their rising towards the heavens, which brings their penitence closer to the heavens. They cover their faces to mourn the death of Jesus Christ. Nazarenos are traditionally all male, but in recent years some females have stepped into the role as well. They carry long candles and other religious treasure.

 

You can pay for a seat by the Cathedral to watch all of the processions go by! 

Little kids would walk in the processions for hours, throwing out candy to the children watching.

There is no age requirement! 

Costaleros 

These are the men who do all of the muscle work. There are up to 40 men carrying one heavy float on their backs. They march underneath a cloth, to make it appear that they are not there. They need to walk in synch and sway the float back and forth to the music while they march. To make it out of the doorways of churches they often times need to crawl on their hands and knees out the door with the float on their backs. During the weeks before Semana Santa, I witnessed these men practicing through the streets many times!

La Banda

The music of Semana Santa was my favorite part! Behind the pasos there would be a marching band playing traditional Semana Santa music, which consists of minor keys and sorrowful sounds. Even though it had a sad sound to it, I loved hearing the music! The musicians were all so good (I could also hear them practicing around town before Semana Santa started), and the music gave me chills to hear!

The Spanish have to take a smoke break even while playing their instrument in a religious ceremony...

La gente

There were SO MANY people in Sevilla for Semana Santa. The streets were unrecognizable with the thousands of people in them! 

Because of the heat of the day and the Spanish late life-style, the streets were even more packed at night!

People generally dress very nice in dresses and suits. They watch the pasos by either buying a seat by the cathedral, watching from an apartment balcony, or pushing through the crowds on the sides of the streets. The most important day of Semana Santa is the Thursday night before Good Friday, into the early morning of Good Friday. During this time some of the most popular processions occur. They are the churches from the Triana neighborhood (that is where I lived!!!). During these processions the women wear mantillas (black shawls) accompanied by a black dress to mourn the death of Christ. Unfortunately, Sarah and I were still in Germany this night, so we missed it!

My Experience

Sarah and I raced back on Good Friday to catch all of the processions on that day. We pushed our way through the crowds on a very hot day to get an up close look at the beautiful pasos. We looked at the schedule and map and caught a glimpse of almost every single one of them that day somewhere in their path! The crowds sometimes made me feel a little claustrophobic, but for the most part we tried to squeeze our way to the front or stay in the back.

 My host family buys seats by the Cathedral every year, so they went most days to go sit and watch the pasos. There are certain desserts and food that are typical of Semana Santa. My host family made me torrijas, which are pretty much baby french toast. For actual Easter Day (Pascua), my host family didn't do anything special. They didn't even recognize it as a holiday! For dinner we had frozen pizza....where's the huge ham dinner!?!? I guess their lack of celebration of actual Easter is made up by their week long celebration of Holy Week. I was still a little sad to miss my mom's yummy ham dinner though! 

Man re-lighting the candles!

The busy Cathedral as a paso exits the back

The lit up candles at night were gorgeous! 

I am so thankful that I returned that week to have this rich, cultural experience. I have never experienced anything like Semana Santa in my life, and I don't think I ever will again. The strong tradition was beautiful. Yeah they could make life easier and use vehicles to pull around the pasos, but the fact that they still use man power to keep the symbolism and tradition alive is amazing. I was left very envious of the Spanish and wish that my culture had any strong traditions like theirs.

Dos dias en la República Checa

 Between visiting Munich and Berlin, we swung over to the Czech Republic to visit the city, Prague, for a few days. Prague was a an absolutely beautiful, old city with cobblestone streets, a castle, and cute little Easter Markets. It was also unfortunately very very touristy, but we made sure to wander down some of the less traveled streets to see all of Prague's charm. We had to get used to the currency, Krowns, and the Czech language, but it was pretty easy with almost everyone being able to speak English there! Overall Prague was a very welcoming and magical place. 

I don't know if all of the markets covered in Easter decorations were seasonal or if they are always there, just with the added decorations for the Easter season! Either way, they were probably my favorite part! They sold things from woodwork, crafts, clothing, souvenirs, hand painted eggs, and DELICIOUS FOOD!

 The buildings were very unique colors which made the wandering the streets a very enjoyable experience. Prague is definitely a city of atmosphere!

 I was very silly and forgot all of my hats in my room in Spain...so I had to make a quick purchase of this very fashionable Prague hat to keep me from getting super burned!

The hat was not needed much longer as it soon began to hail and rain like crazy with high winds and a very cold temperature. Let's just say, we were soaking wet, shivering, and trying like crazy to keep a smile on our face as we enjoyed the city.

Me trying to look normal with Prague castle in the background

How I really felt!

 We made our way to the famous Charles bridge. This bridge was constructed by King Charles IV in the 1300's.

 The bridge had lots of neat statues along it as well as great views of the city!

After crossing the bridge we made our way over to the Prague Castle. The castle dates back to the 9th century and is where the current president of the Czech Republic resides. The castle isn't really what we think of when we think of a castle. It was a large complex with palaces, churches, and other buildings. The most castle like building was the beautiful cathedral.

The entrance

A courtyard inside

The guards on duty. I accidentally made eye contact with one and he awkwardly shifted his gaze...hehe:) 

St. Vitus Cathedral was one of my favorite parts. It was huge and beautiful and looked like a castle!

The side of the Cathedral

Back of the Cathedral

The stained glass was amazing!

The Royal Palace was the next stop in our Prague Castle adventure. It was built in the 12 century with Gothic and Renaissance styles. There is no longer a King in the Czech Republic, so it is just used as a museum and for inauguration ceremonies.

A hidden treasure room!

St. George Basilica! 

The last stop in our journey of Prague Castle was Golden Lane. This is a small street of old fashioned houses that used to be the dwellings of the servants and guards of the castle and their families. This street was adorable! Some houses were decorated like they would be back then while others had actual shops inside selling different old-time crafts and goodies. There was even a torture museum!

Just busy guarding the castle :p 

Clocks being sold everywhere, they are sure Prague's thing!

My new freind :)

Scary looking torture stuff!

An old-time house!

Ewwww...

Since the castle is up on a hill we snapped some good pics outside!

To satisfy our appetites we went to a cute Czech pub and got their famous goulash! This was a very popular dish and was so delicious!

Because Sarah was a a big John Lennon fan, we made sure to make our way down to the famous John Lennon Wall. This wall is one of the coolest places I visited on our trip. To understand it here is a bit of history of the Czech Republic, which many Americans don't know much about:

The Czech State dates back to the 13 century. By the 1600's it was taken over by Austria and then in the 1800's it became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the defeat of the empire in WWI the Czechs and Slovaks became an independent country known as Czechoslovakia. During WWII Czechoslovakia became split up and then restored again...this poor country! Then as a restored country in 1946 the Communist Party won the elections.

Now is where this wall comes into play. During the 1980's the country was going through a revolution called the Velvet Revolution. Mainly consisting of students, there were many protests against the Communist government which eventually lead to the formation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia as parliamentary republics. This wall was an important tool in the protests. The wall would fill up with John Lennon inspired quotes and other graffiti to protest the Communist government. The gov. would paint the wall over and by the next day it would be filled with statement pictures and words again.

 Now, most of the original graffiti is covered up by new designs. The wall still keeps its theme of world peace and love. How cool!!

My addition to the wall with the pen I found in my purse :)

There is even a restaurant dedicated to the man!

I love Prague!

I learned a lot of my Czech history at the Communist Museum. It was a very interesting perspective on what the Czech Republic went through in the 1900's.

Interesting sign to have at the work place...

We then ended our day at a local Czech pub outside the tourist center. The menu was in Czech, so we had no idea what we were ordering for most of it... It was a great time!

Coffee flavored beer!

Fried chicken and little potato ball things!

Potato pancakes and french onion soup!

The next day was still very cold, but not raining at least! We spent the day walking around and exploring more of the city.

The creepiest statue I have ever seen!

We went to old town square to walk around all of the little markets. It was so fun!

Easter Decorations!

                         

So many yummy treats throughout the day! (Not pictured is a delicious Kebob and yummy  hot wine to warm us up!) 

Cream Cheese and raspberry tart 

Actual grilled cheese with garlic sauce :)

Trdelnik! It is just a large, heavenly doughnut in a hollow ring shape!

We then visited the Old Town Hall with the Astronomical Clock. It is so beautiful!

At the top of the tower we got a breathtaking view of this amazing city.

After seeing some odd cosplay going on at the top, we decided to take the elevator down (we took the stairs up). We got on with thankfully only one other person and with our great luck we got stuck right at the bottom!! We tried to open the doors of the ALL GLASS elevator but they wouldn't budge. With my irrational fear of elevators I was trying so hard not to have a breakdown right there. Luckily Sarah was very calm and made me feel better with her light attitude. Many people came up to the elevator tried to press the button to open it, realized that we were stuck with our hand motions, and then just laughed and walked up the stairs...ummm help!!! Finally after pressing the emergency button a million times a mechanic came a half an hour later. He tried to open the doors, couldn't, and so shrugged his shoulders and walked away. HELP!!!! Thank God he came back just five minutes later with help and finally got us out. I have never been so happy in my life. The mechanics proceeded to keep looking at the elevator and took no notice of us. There were no apologies, refunds, gifts, nothing! In the US they would be apologizing like crazy so they wouldn't get sued by us! Haha different cultures are so entertaining.

Sarah and I at our low point with our new friend from China. 

More pics from strolling around the city with the sun out for a little bit this time!

Prague City Museum

Na Poříčí, a main shopping street!

Charles Bridge

Because of how cold it was we decided to end our day with an inside activity-a classical concert in a beautiful, old church!

St. Nicholas Church where we saw the concert!

What a talented group of people. We were the youngest people there, but had a blast anyway :)

I love her!!

Even with the bad weather and bad luck in the elevator Prague was still a magical city that I woulId love to come back to some day. Until we meet again, Prague!