semana santa

or "holy week" is spain's easter. a whole week of processions through most of the cities here of depictions of jesus and mary. the "pasos" move very slowly and are proceeded by a series of candle holders, and followed by a band playing traditional songs of the week. i love things like this because they are such wide windows into cultures, so i had a great time this week indulging in the piety and flocks of people (sevilla is by and large reveared as the center of semana santa). most of the processions take place after dark, lasting until 2 or 3 in the morning. my first encounter with semana santa took place in Tarifa on sunday night on the way back from morocco. here's the procession i found:



right before this procession began a man sung in front of the platform before it was lifted up to be carried. it was beautiful.














later on in the same procession.















now try not to be alarmed by the KKK resemblance. semana santa has its roots a few centuries before before the klan had adopted their standard dress (1915).




i did this for a day on monday. it was really nice. tarifa is some kind of world capital when it comes to kite/wind surfing so there's lots of rental shops and people taking part.














these pics are back in sevilla on wednesday and thursday respectively. on thursday i found a really good spot by the cathedral to watch the pasos. it was cool.















i moved on later in the night and snapped these pictures of the cathedral and what was actually the same paso i saw before going by on my way home.











and that's semana santa. it's over and i'm back in school. however, this friday starts the next long weekend as i have next week off school too. i'm taking a trip up north to visit my house family from 2004 in Toledo before going west to see my friend Olivia from France that's studying in Salamanca. exciting stuff!