Semana Santa-A Journal-Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday)

I just finished experiencing my first and maybe last Semana Santa in Sevilla, Spain. It was overwhelming at times and even though it was chalked full of people, it was an unforgettable experience. Here is my journal entry from day one of Semana Santa, with a little commentary from the rest of the week and of course, a few pictures.

Balcony on Domingo de Ramos

Today is Domingo de Ramos, or Palm Sunday. There were a few processions the past two days, mostly outside of the city center, but today is the day when it all really starts. After consulting my handy guia (I have two which will both be my "go to" guides for the next week), I have mapped out a few churches that are nearby and the pasos that I want to see, and we head out an hour and a half early to our first destination. As we head towards the church, I take note of all the maroon-covered balconies that have an array of elegant palms attached to them.  There is no doubt it is Palm Sunday.

Nazareno

As we take to the street, we follow our first of many Nazarenos, or Penitentes- men, women, and children that are part of the brotherhood of the parish. This particular brotherhood, or Cofradías, is in dressed in blue and white and are part of La Hiniesta of Iglesia de San Julián. After taking a few photos, not realizing that we will have many photo opportunities throughout the whole week, we come upon the corner of the church. This being our first procession of the week, we are not sure how many people will be here, where the best place to stand to see the procession will be, or quite frankly, anything. We find a spot on the corner that happens to also have a ledge to sit on (and an important perch for later.) Our view will be of the church door and the procession will be heading away from us. People are slowly starting to fill the area in front and all around the church. We see several different types of band uniforms, children dressed in religious garb, TV cameras, and of course the Nazarenos. As the crowd thickens, we start to get excited.

Nazarenos walking out of San Julián

At 3:00 the door opened and a giant cheer erupted from the crowd. The brass-only band started up and out came the cross, which is held by the leaders of this Cofradías along with the start of procession of the Nazarenos. Everyone was excited for just a moment then went back to talking, sitting, or eating. Well...that was it? We waited an hour and a half for that? We of course were taking photos of the long line of Nazarenos coming out of the church following the cross.

With a perplexed look on our faces, a couple of nice women from Sevilla began to explain a few things to us. The cross is the start of the procession brought out musically by one band, (one lady kindly showed me that the band names were noted in the guia) and then, it is followed by the endless (it seems) line of Nazarenos, carrying candles or crosses. They further explained that the paso comes out after special candleholders are carried out and to look for them. Also, there are different bands that play for at different times of the procession. Depending on the number of Nazerenos, the length of time for each procession differs. In this particular brotherhood, they have approximately 1500 Nazarenos.

Paso of San Julián exiting the door

After about 30-45 minutes of Nazarenos walking two-by-two out of the church, the special candleholders come out and everyone rose to their feet, straining their necks for a view of the church door. A gentleman nearby explained that the fit is tight for this particular paso and that it is quite a feat to get it out the door. On my perch, I have my camera ready and a great view of the door. Everyone gets quiet, shushes are heard throughout the crowd, and you can hear the yells of the men in charge. As the paso peeks out the door, one can tell that it is indeed a tight squeeze, barely missing the sides and top of the door of the church. This paso has Jesus on the cross with Mary Magdalene at his feet. It is covered in a mound of red flowers, which all sit on top of a wooden platform. The platform it is on is mostly carved wood and is not as covered in gold or silver like some of the others that we will see later in the week. It is a truly amazing sight. Once it has cleared the church door, the band starts up and everyone cheers. I could feel the pride of all the people and I was over-taken with emotion and tears came to my eyes. It was a sight that I had never seen before. I was amazed by the fact that only a few men were carrying a two-ton display and had to continue on for another 11 hours (in this case) on the street.

Paso of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross

The men carrying the paso, called “Costaleros”, were given a small break after getting through the door and at this time, a mechanism was used to lift the cross up to its highest point (it was lowered beforehand to get through the door). The band started up again to a great marching beat which is meant to help the men, who have to take extremely tiny steps to turn the paso ninety degrees to continue down the street. Once the first turn is made, loud cheers and applause fill the air, as well as the triumphant music that the band plays. As we watch it march down the street, the band follows and continues its quest to spark motivation in the carriers of the paso.

Next up, more Nazarenos. The people calm back down and take a seat on their tiny portable chairs that everyone except us seems to have. Sandwiches and beverages are pulled out like nothing just happened. We sit back down on our perch and look at our guia- the Dolorosa is set to come out in another 30 minutes. That just means more waiting and watching of the long lines of Nazarenos. It gives us a chance to glance at our photos and to take in what we just saw.

Dolorosa of San Julián coming out of the door

The women start to hush everyone in sight and suddenly there is quiet all around. Again the yells of the men in charge are heard telling the men carrying the Dolorosa* to heed left or right or kneel further down. Out of the extremely tight space comes the Dolorosa donned in a beautiful blue covering. She is on a platform of all silver with many candles that will be later lit for the evening part of the processions. She is under a canopy of blue that matches her long cloak. Again, the men carrying this platform are given a rest once outside of the door. It is here that the mournful song, called the “saeta” happens. Usually a man or a woman sings this from a nearby balcony while the crowd is absolutely silent. While this was happening, I had a moment to scan over the crowd. Women were crying from being moved both by the song and the Dolorosa, men were bowing their heads in respect, and even children were paying attention to this moment in time. After the song is finished, a big roar erupts again and the band conducts a highly motivated song for the turn of the Dolorosa. 

Dolorosa of San Julián

This one moves a bit faster, for it is not as big of a platform and it has lighter objects on it. To me, this one is more fascinating to watch because so many things could easily fall with the movement (candles, flowers, etc) and it is trance-like to see it swaying to the music. It went down the street followed by the band and away the crowd went, too. The crowds were either following it or leaving to find another procession nearby.

The Dolorosa going down the street

*The Spaniards take their Dolorosa very seriously and you know this when you go into any restaurant or walk on any street, where there are photos, statues, and posters everywhere of their church’s Mary.  If she is crying, then she is called a Dolorosa, meaning “in pain.”

It has now been an official two and half hours from when it started.

We head back to our apartment with the lingering excitement still in our heads, only to be stopped by a procession going directly in our path to our house. Welcome to Semana Santa, where a good feel of the city is needed and luckily we had been staying for a few months and know our way around the city. We take a different path and are able to go all away around it and back to our apartment. What normally would have taken 10 minutes, has now taken 30. Now it is time for a quick rest of our feet and a snack, then on to the evening procession.

In the evening, we walked around amongst the crowds knowing which procession we wanted to see, but not knowing how early to arrive. We come to Iglesia de Los Terceros about two and a half hours early. There are just a few people waiting outside the doors. We decide to walk around for a bit longer, as this church is close to our apartment. The evening processions are the more popular ones, and this one is entering back into the church after the long day (this particular procession is eight hours long) of walking throughout the city. We grab a quick sandwich and head back to the now busy street/church. We sit on the curb and talk to a young Spanish girl who tells us that we are in the walkway for the Nazarenos (clearly noted on the door behind us) returning to the church and that we will have to move. She is learning English and we talk about how crazy Semana Santa is with our broken Spanish and her broken English. She warns us about the upcoming week, stating the Thursday and Friday are the most crowded days (we will later find that she is correct and that every citizen of Sevilla and every tourist is out watching every procession that they can see, filing from street to street). We snag a different seat close by where we are both close to the street and can see the entrance to the church. This is on a narrow sidewalk and our view is superb.

Nazareno of La Cena

Around the corner, the Nazarenos from the Cofradías of La Cena come with the cross and the crowd starts getting excited. There are only 625 Nazarenos in this brotherhood for the Iglesia de Los Terceros and they are wearing all white and have their candles lit. The procession is remarkably different at night, taking an eerie glow from the candles and the few streetlights.  From the gait of the Nazarenos, one can tell that they have been walking throughout Sevilla for a while.

Paso of  Los Terceros

The crowd quiets as the first paso turns the corner. This is an amazing paso to see, very different from earlier in the day. It has a depiction of the Last Supper on it, and not only is the paso a huge wooden structure, it also has thirteen life-size statues around a large table, adorned in candles and flowers.

Judas on Paso of  Los Terceros

 Again, I was amazed at the strength and the ability of the men carrying it. The men have to turn the paso backwards to take it into the church, and it is done with the sound of only brass horns. After carrying it all day, the crowd helps with cheers and rounds of applause. The paso goes into the church very carefully as the men kneel to keep it from hitting the doorway while carrying it up the ramp. A loud applause breaks out when it is clear and the band members all stop playing after the grand finale of horns and hug each other-a major feat has just been accomplished.

Paso entering the church

Now, we are not done yet or even close. It has been about an hour since the first Nazareno was sighted and about 11:30 at night. One of the reasons that we chose this particular procession is because there are two pasos and a dolorosa. After the first paso is finished, more Nazarenos pass by us with candles, looking solemn with their white hoods and red candles. The next paso turns the corner and another hush comes over the crowd. This one depicts Christ on Mount Golgota or Calgary hill. It comes down the street in a haze from the incense. 

Christ on Mount Golgota

This paso is wooden too and has angels around it with a few candles. Jesus is sitting on a mound of flowers and in a reflecting pose. This paso has no band, but a stretch of Nazarenos that are carrying crosses and wear a hat without a point and rosaries around their hands or crosses. This paso does not go in backwards, but in complete silence while it crosses the threshold. 

Nazarenos carrying crosses behind the paso

At this point, the crowd is getting antsy, it is now 12:30, and the Dolorosa is still quite far away. There are many children and people of all ages up for this procession. As another hush rifles through the crowd, and we can finally see the candles lit from the Dolorosa coming around the corner. It is truly a sight to see. 

Dolorosa of  Los Terceros at night

Dolorosa of Los Terceros 

Dolorosa entering the church

The candles reflect the incense and it almost looks like Mary is floating on the street. Her platform is completely covered in lit candles and flowers and can be seen glowing from the distance. Watching it move past us, we are in awe at how this moving platform is still in one piece. The band stops in front of us as the Dolorosa enters the church. 

Band at Los Terceros

We can feel the beat along with all the adrenaline of men and woman that have just finished. We are swept up in the emotion and look around. Yes, we are in Sevilla, experiencing part of history that will continue for generations.