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 Passion
and Pasos
The passion, hooded men (some wearing chains), flagellation,
virgins, the Macarena: what is this? A little kinky fun in
an outmoded discotheque? It is Holy Week – Semana
Santa – in Spain, perhaps the most important event
in the religious calendar, more so even than Christmas. It
is laically important, as well, as millions of Iberians sniff
the air, sense the coming of summer, and head for the beach
– which is another story.
Holy
Week is a moveable feast which begins on Palm Sunday (Domingo
de Ramos) and runs through to Resurrection Sunday (this
year, April 8th-15th). To see Spanish
Holy Week at its most extravagant, head for Andalusia, especially
Seville.
Failing that, Easter is spectacular in other cathedral cities,
such as Valladolid, Leon or even Bilbao, or in many smaller
towns. Virtually anywhere, in fact, except Madrid or Barcelona.
Even if you are not especially interested in the religious
aspect, Spanish
Holy Week is impressive. The processions which take place
throughout the week are the centre of attention, but that
does not mean you have to be especially devout to enjoy this
time of year here. People come out to follow or watch the
pasos, floats, and have a drink and a meal as well
– it is another day out. And no-one is going to oblige you
to watch the whole of a procession. When you flag, go for
a drink and return, or follow the procession in reverse direction.
On first impression, the processions might seem repetitive,
but the distinctions between them soon become clear. The day
of the week makes an important difference. For example, Thursday's
processions tend to be good-natured, if not high-spirited,
while Good Friday's can be solemn to the point of mournfulness.
Floats and Figures
 Except
in small towns or villages, the figures representing the scenes
on the pasos are life-sized and very lifelike. Many
are very old and valuable, made by master craftsmen such as
Juan de Mena, Martinez Montaner and J. Antonio Illanes. In
essence, the processions represent the Easter Passion, the
story between the last supper and the resurrection, and the
pasos are scenes with up to seven or eight figures,
depicting one of the events in the story. So a paso with
a figure of Christ, e.g., a Descendimiento, Christ
being taken down from the cross, usually takes the lead, while
one of the various Virgin Marys brings up the rear. Other
pasos include the Oración en el Huerto (prayer
in the garden), San Pedro Arrepentido (Saint Peter
repenting), the Ecce-Homo (when Pontius Pilot
shows Christ to the people), the Flagelación
(flagellation), and so on. The Virgins are received like spiritual
beauty queens: each has a different face, and crowds have
their favourites. A popular Virgin, especially the Macarena,
is received with the cry of "guapa" (lit.
"beautiful" and pronounced almost like "whopper").
These pasos are the property of hermandades
or cofradías, brotherhoods, a remnant of the mediaeval
guilds. They usually take their names from the first paso
they acquired when they were formed, mostly in the 16th
and 17th centuries. Being a member of a cofradía
used to mean you were at least a pillar of society and very
possibly a rich man, though now they have a broader base.
The largest cofradía in Seville, the Gran
Poder, has over 2,000 members and its procession,
after midnight on Good Friday, takes hours to pass a single
spot.
 Nazarenos
and Costaleros
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 Gumbies.
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 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.
Saetas
and Seville
Often, when the paso is halted, the sound of a saeta
is heard from a balcony. This is a flamenco song, a free-form
lament, sung by one person with no accompaniment. It is supposed
to be a spontaneous outbreak, though in reality it is usually
expected, and the procession waits respectfully until it is
over.
 Semana
Santa at its most grandiose is to be found in Seville,
where there are no fewer than 57 cofradías (with a
population of less than seven hundred thousand) and the processions
may attract over a million spectators. The most popular are
those of the Jesus del Gran Poder and of the Virgen
de la Macarena (yes, like that omnipresent dance of a
few years ago). These two cofradías are so important
that, in the nineteen-forties, groups of homesick Andalusians
in Madrid started their own versions, carbon-copies with exact
replicas of their respective figures. These same pasos
are now the protagonists of the most popular procession in
Madrid.
The disadvantage of Seville as a destination in Semana
Santa is that its popularity makes finding
accommodation a difficult task. Some hotels are booked
up two years ahead for this holiday. As so often happens,
it is at the cheap end of the market where you are most likely
to have success if you turn up on spec, but I cannot recommend
relying on this.
If you do go to see Semana Santa in Seville, you will
find one of the most original, genuine celebrations in the
world, a festival that few fail to enjoy and no-one forgets.
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