Semana Santa In Seville An Unforgettable Experience

Seville is a wonderful place to spend time throughout the year except perhaps during the intense heat of August. Its stunning, enormous cathedral, the historic Alcazar, its unbeatable flamenco, tapas and opera all of these aspects of this beautiful city are unsurpassable. But it is at Easter, or Semana Santa as it is known in Spain, that the population of Seville doubles in size as people from around the world come to witness, and experience, the profoundly moving celebrations here.

The Semana Santa celebrations consist of no fewer than 60 religious processions through the narrow atmospheric streets of Seviile beginning on Palm Sunday and continuing until the morning of Easter Sunday itself. The origins of the observances can be found back in the Middle Ages the oldest of the Seville brotherhoods, El Silencio, for example, was created in 1340 and many of the amazing and ornate pasos, or floats, that you see carried through the streets can date back to the 1600s.

Each procession will go from the church in which the religious icons to be carried are kept throughout the year. Usually, there will be a representation of Christ and another of the Virgin, showing a releavant part of the Easter story. Some of them have an incredible monetary value. Most will feature spectacular floral displays around the icon itself. The floats are carried by costaleros along a traditional route to the cathedral and then back. This can take between eight and fourteen hours to complete. When you consider that some of these floats can weigh well in excess of 2000kg, you ll begin to understand the effort the approximately forty or so costaleros has to put in.

Behind the floats will be the hooded and cloaked penitents known as nazarenos, marching usually in pairs and carrying long, wax candles. Often the procession is accompanied by choirs, wind quartets or, more usually a trumpet and drum band. If you're very lucky, you may be nearby when some-one in the crowd or on an overhanging balcony offers up a heartrending flamenco ballad known as a saeta.

The moods of the processions change during the week becoming more sombre until the climax of the week the night of Holy Thursday when the crucified Christ is slowly carried around the streets. This is the night when the El Silencio Brotherood and the other well-known groups such as La Macarena and Los Gitanos parade reverentially through the city.

The Easter Sunday procession, by contrast, is a far more joyous occasion, celebrating the resurrection of the son of God.

A sense of pageantry, tradition and religious devotion permeates through Seville during Semana Santa and has an impact on everyone in the city whether they themselves are religious or not. It leaves a lasting impression on everyone who ever attends.

Naturally, because of the thousands of people flocking to Seville during Holy Week, accommodation can be very difficult to find and hotel rates can significantly increase. Many people prefer to find apartment accommodation, which not only gives them much more freedom and independence but can also, especially at Semana Santa, prove to be excellent value for money.