The visitor's attention is first caught by the most prominent members of the cofradías, the nazarenos and penitentes, who follow the pasos. The nazarenos are mostly men (and boys), though many cofradías now admit girls and women as nazarenos. They wear long tunics and masks over their faces, usually draped from high, pointed caps which inevitably remind foreign spectators of the Klu Klux Kan (who copied the idea). The penitentes carry full-size crosses. In addition, some may follow the route in bare feet, or wearing shackles, even a ball-and-chain: this is because they have made a promesa, a vow. The men are followed by the cofradía's marching band, while groups of manolas, black-dressed women wearing shawls and peinetas, the Spanish comb-headdress, bring up the rear.

The pasos are carried on the shoulders of young men called costaleros, 20-30 per paso, who consider it a privilege to carry over 2,000 kg on their shoulders for several kilometres. They are out of sight when the paso is in motion and wear jeans and t-shirts, with towelling wrapped around their heads, reminding visitors of a certain age of Monty Python's Gumbys. This towelling drapes down to protect the napes of their necks, though many shoulders have been rubbed raw well before the end of the procession. If the cofradía is not large enough for costaleros to be found or the paso not especially important, it may be motorized in some way. The costaleros' work is made more complicated by their being hidden under the skirts of the paso which, as well as carrying the figures, is ornately decorated with cloths and flowers. This means they are working in horribly stifling conditions and that they cannot see where they are going. They have to follow the instructions of the capataz, a senior hermano, who walks in front of the paso, beating the ground with a stick to communicate. And the work of the costaleros requires more skill than is obvious at first sight. True, the basic manoeuvres are simple if strenuous: lifting the paso, moving forward and turning (these done with a shuffling movement of the feet), stopping and putting it down. But difficulties come when a paso must, for example, turn a particularly tight corner in a narrow street. This is like watching a gang of invisible, perfectly coordinated removal men get a piano up an impossibly winding staircase, and is often applauded by spectators. And other crowd-pleasing techniques are used: swaying the paso, rocking it or even the grandstander, when the costaleros lift the paso above their heads to the full extent of arms and hold it there for a few impossible seconds.