Semana Santa

Semana (week) Santa (holy) = Holy Week

Sevilla is probably the most popular location for Holy week in all of Spain. There are "parades" (for lack of a better term) all over the city. They are almost all day and all night. The Catholic churches of Sevilla have religious brotherhoods that make a trek from their home church to the main cathedral. These can take up to 12 hours because they carry a large "float" (for the lack of a better term again). They wear hooded cloaks with pointy hats in representative colors. The pictures will better show all of this. And, here's an explanation from my program's blog.

Holy Week is a religious celebration that takes place during Easter. It starts on Palm Sunday and ends on the following Sunday, the resurrection day. The last days of Jesus´ life are shown in the streets through parades and colorful floats.Most days there are seven parades each from a different church that show different aspects of the savior’s life: for example the last supper, Jesus´ journey, and his death and resurrection. This is demonstrated through hand made wooden figures on top of a float. Underneath there are around forty men carrying the floats. They are called costaleros and have extreme devotion to the church and their faith.The majority of the churches have two floats, one that represents Jesus and the other one Virgin Mary. In front of the floats, hundreds of devotees called nazarenos wear peculiar outfits and carry candles in a way of penance.Most likely you will find various parades in the center neighborhoods. If not, all that you have to do is go to the city center since all the floats pass through the cathedral. Please dress for the occasion, especially during Palm Sunday, Thursday, and Friday since these days are the most important. The Sevillanos pay close attention to what they wear. Some of the most important churches participate on Friday starting around 2 am (Thursday night), called the Madrugá. If you decide to go out this evening with your friends, please keep mind that for many this is the most sacred religious time of the year. Be respectful with their beliefs and form of devotion.

This is the large "float" that they carry. Its Jesus on the cross with hundreds of candles.