Semana Santa, or Holy week is a celebration that lasts for seven days leading up to Easter. Each day has about seven or eight processions. The processions all have different routes but all of them go through a main avenue and plaza leading to the cathedral. The processions include hundreds of nazarens, people holding candles and two giant pasos, with sculptures of the virgin and of Jesus. There are about fifty men under each one, carrying it on their shoulders.
The streets are FULL of people. At some points, you can't move through the crowd. In the parts of the routes near the cathedral there are stands with chairs that you must pay to sit in. Apparently, you keep your chairs from year to year, paying each year, and they are passed down through families.
There were times when Semana santa caused me great frustration. The main road that I take to get home was blocked off for processions. Sometimes, wandering through the side streets I would run into a different procession and have no way to get home.
Thursday night is the Madrugada, and their are processions from 12 Am to 12 Pm. On the other days, the processions last from about 2pm to midnight. Instead of staying out all night, I decided to wake up Friday morning and go see the Macarena, the most famous virgin. Well, on Friday morning the TV wasn't functioning and Isabel decided to come with me because she couldn't watch the processions at home. At that point, it was a whole different story. She said we didn't have time for breakfast and we left in her car. The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a sidewalk cafe eating churros with chocolate while Isabel was searching for a cup of decaffeinated coffee. There was a couple from Barcelona who really love semana santa staying at our house. They were out that morning so Isabel took went to find them. It was here that I learned you're allowed to get inside of the procession. Isabel is pretty crazy. She was walking among the nazarenes, talking on her cell phone, looking for her friends. Well, we found them and then we all went to find the Macarena. There was definitely a mob surrounding the Macarena. These three adults I was with [who were all in their 50s] pushed through the crowd. I was afraid I would get lost or squished to death. The best thing about the macarena is that people throw flower petals on the street from the tops of buildings as it passes. It was raining flowers on me!
On Friday afternoon we were surprised to learn that Isabel's brother has tickets to the chairs in the plaza. Katherine and I got to sit there with Isabel! On Thursday, when I couldn't see anything for the giant stands, I had a definite distaste for the chair institution. Friday, I kind of liked it. We had to dress up in black to sit there. Here is a picture of us with Isabel on Viernes Santo.
I decided to make a day out of hanging out with Isabel. She invited me to a bar with her friend after we saw the processions. It was more of a private society country club type of place. I had a fanta and a tapa of meatballs. It was entertaining because I never understood the jokes that her friend was making and they kept having to repeat things. The funniest part was when I was reading the tapas menu. I didn't know what anything was, so Juan Carlos, Isabel's friend went down the list and identified everything as "fish" accompanied by a swimming motion with his hands.
That day was a good day.
Sounds like great fun!
ReplyDeleteSarah