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| HOLY WEEK from 9th to 16th (April 2006)
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Semana Santa (Holy Week) is in fact celebrated all over Spain from Domingo de
Ramos (Palm Sunday) to Domingo de Resurreccion (Easter Sunday), though some smaller
towns only have processions on Jueves Santo (Maundy Thursday) and Viernes Santo
(Good Friday).
Major towns will have processions every night of Holy Week, each with their cofradias
(lay brotherhoods) and penitentes (penitents), which incidentally have nothing
to do with the KKK despite their pointed hats. The cofradias tend to have long
important names such as Pontificia y Venerable e Ilustre Hermandad de Nuestra
Madre y Señora de la Soledad y Sagrado Descendimiento de Nuestro Señor
Jesucristo.
The procession is a serious affair and usually has two tronos (heavy religious
floats) bearing valuable sculptures of the Virgin Mother weeping tears of jewels
and of Christ, not always crucified. Preceding the pasos are hundreds of nazarenos
- Nazarenes but just another name for penitents. They dress in long hooded túnicas
(gowns) made of velvet and satin, and carry the flickering velas (candles) that
leave the streets slippery with wax. Others carry luxurious sceptres.
 Each trono is extremely heavy for the numerous throne carriers underneath who
have to carry it along the route of the procession. In Seville and Jerez thet
are called costaleros, in Malaga simply hombres de trono. In addition to the the
valuable religious image, the trono has a lot of silver candelabra, aromatic flowers
and richly embroidered robes which sway as the float creeps along its ritual path.
The processions are long-winded, so the brotherhood organisers set up tribunas
(stands) where you can sit and watch for the price of an abono (seaon ticket).
Music is important in the procedure. Bands of bugles and drums play marches and
the procession stops at key points for a solo religious song: the saeta. The saeta
(literally arrow to the heart) is an emotional cry and sung in the street. Its
plaintive laments echo through the streets making us live and feel the Passion,
Death and Resurrection of our Lord.
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BODEGAS
