Semana Santa (Holy Week) en España

This coming week will bring tons of travelers and tourists from around the world to the streets of Anadalucía to view the religious processions, which are parades of religiously decorated floats to mourn and celebrate this time of year. The processions are more than a Catholic practice, they are an important part of the tradition and culture in Spain. Although I won´t be in Granada for most of Semana Santa, I hope to catch the end of the week´s events when I return next Friday evening.

During the majority of Semana Santa I will be in Lisboa, Portugal! I´m meeting Kaela in Madrid tomorrow morning, spending the day in Toledo (which is about an hour outside of Madrid) and then flying to Lisboa on Saturday. I haven´t brushed up on my Portugese (and by brushing up I mean learning some basic words) yet but hopefully I´ll be able to understand a bit here and there with my knowledge of Spanish...we´ll see. Since Portugal is also a country heavily influenced by Catholicism, it will be interesting to see what kind of events will take place and how they compare to Spain.

The floats for the processions in Spain are a bit different than those we see in parades in the U.S. during the 4th of July. These floats are carried by men, called costaleros, throughout the streets of Andalucía. They are elaborately decorated and display religious figures and artifacts. When Marja and I were making our way back to the bus station after touring Sevilla by foot a few weeks ago, we encountered a church practicing with their float for the processions and it was incredible to witness. There were about 25-30 men (strong, strong men...the kind you wouldn´t want to mess with in a bar) carrying a large metal platform with wooden planks on top making their way through a narrow street. They were moving at at agonizingly slow pace, practically a crawl, and it was necessary for each person to be in step with the others to avoid tripping and falling.

The processions in Sevilla are the most popular in Spain and attract the biggest crowds from around the world. In Granada, temporary grandstands, which form an aisle for the processions to pass through, have been set up in the plaza in front of the city hall to prepare for the coming week. Although I haven´t seen any practicing costaleros here in Granada, I have caught glimpses of a few nearly-completed floats that are stored in garages on my walks home from school and they look incredible.

Well, I´m off to Portugal now! More to come when I return to España...hasta luego!