Today is Easter Sunday and we've had an entire week of Semana Santa festivities leading up to it. No one does Semana Santa like Seville, they took over the town for 7 days, entertaining and leading processions until 5 am in the morning on some nights. An awesome gathering of many forces to make this happen, bringing people from all over to see the spectacle. And it happened every day for hours in many different places, it's hard to grasp the scope of this event.
Joe and I have had a blast photographing it, I could fill 5 blogs, and may... but for today here's another group of images from the procession yesterday. I don't remember what Brotherhood they are from or their size and path, I call them the green procession. Each one has their own color scheme, down to the color of their 4 foot candles.
For vocabulary purposes these are the names associated with Semana Santa, and you hear them a lot!
Nazareneos: The pointy head people that are walking off their sins. Also called Penitents.
Costaleros: The men that hold up the 1 ton float and wear thick head coverings.
Paso: The float
This is by no means official, it's just my interpretation.
With my trusty Canon 6D and 24-105mm lens I mostly stood in one spot and this is what I saw!!!
They started at this particular spot on the route with the lighting of the candles, as in 500+ of them.
Collecting wax into balls is very popular with the children, they compare and see who got the most wax :-) You can see the boys in the background doing just that.
The Costaleros. They work very hard carrying that huge Paso. This group of them were waiting for the Paso, float, to come by so they could swap with the team that was under the Paso.
A religious experience, the expressions I caught look like religious agony, but I think it was just the timing. No one really looked like they were in anguish.
I popped into the street to get this one. I'm one of many on the sidelines trying to see.
A discussion??
A close up of a Nazarenos. That's his candle he's carrying, and will for many hours in the dark as it drips all over the streets.
Don't know what these participants are called, but loved the photo.
Another unknown participant with an unusual hat.
The Paso comes by, so elaborate, all fresh flowers. Touching it is a special privilege.
The change of the guards took place, and this is one of the men that was under the Paso that was just released. They looked very hot.
Then came the band, wonderful music!
Lots of beautiful babies!
After that procession passed, we walked to the see the grandstands here. A few seats were filled in anticipation of the procession coming by soon.
This entire area was built just for the 8 days festivities, new asphalt even was poured. The white wax streaks in the street are from thousands of lit 4 foot candles being carried by.
People lined up at special seats along the streets, waiting.
Some Costaleros being agreeable and posing for us.
These had finished a stint under the Paso, maybe before the group we saw. It takes a large pool of men to keep those Pasos going through town for 12 hours with only man power to move them.
They wanted me to take a picture with Joe in their group. Fun guys!
No matching shirts, so they must be with another Brotherhood.
This group caught my eye, the children were playing so well together as the 4 of them walked along... to a procession perhaps?
Back home at our apartment the Geraniums are blooming... Happy Easter!!
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