Montag, 30. März 2015

Semana Santa


Yesterday, I got for the first time an idea of what "mucha gente" in Seville means. The entire city was full of people in dresses, suits and coats, following and performing the Semana Santa processions.
It was Domingo de Ramos, the official first day and start of the holy week. In the morning, the first thing people do is going to church. At the entrance visitors are given a ribbon to put on the jacket to show they were at that particular church. Inside, they receive a branch that they can wear with the jacket or put next to the entrance of their homes for good luck.
my host-brother Andres and me during lunch with his family
Then, the people in Seville get together with their families to have lunch and spend time together.

Around early noon, the processions start.
Those processions consist of many members. For exapmle there are those, wearing a coat with a peaked top, in the color of the "brotherhood" they belong to. Those brotherhoods are related to the churches in the districts of Seville. Many of those nazarenos are walking barefoot for hours to honor christ. Others have comitted to carry a wooden cross during the entire procession. Then there are those, who carry very heavy, antique wooden sculpures through the streets that represent religious symbols.
a wooden scultpure, carried by men
Often those processions consist of hundreds of members, and continue until the morning of the following day. Sometimes they are accompanied by marching bands. Children can ask the nazarenos for candy and will sometimes receive sweets or little pictures of the figures, that they then carry in their wallets. It is crazy, how many people are on the streets watching these events. At some moments, we stand right in the middle of a big square and couldn't move at all. Still, the Semana Santa processions are a very interesting and faszinating thing to watch, for which Seville is known all over the world.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semana_Santa_in_Sevilla

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