Semana Santa

I got back to Granada after Italy in time for the most importnat days of Semana Santa in Granada.  Semana Santa is celebrated all over Spain but it is taken most seriously in Andalucia; the region of southern Spain in which I live.  Semana Santa is the Holy Week that takes up the last week of lent, ending on Easter Sunday.  All days of this week are equally important and are filled with processions through the city that depict the phases Jesus went through during this week.  Therefore, Easter is celebrated j ust like the other days and is not a big holiday filled with the Easter Bunny and a family dinner like in the states.  However, there are traditional foods and pastries that are made throughout the week.  Carmen cooked a lot of fish during this week and also a dessert called Torrijas.  Torrijas are are slices of bread dipped in egg then soaked in wine or milk, fried and sweetened with sugar and sprinkled with cinnamon.  Carmen made mine with soy milk so I could try them.  They are very similar to french toast but thicker and with more crunch.

The processions through the city are the most important part of Semana Santa.  The processions are made up of participants of all ages, floats that capture different scenes of Jesus and of Mary, marching bands, women in dark flamenco attire, and nazarenos.  Nazarenos are dressed in in a tunic and a hood with conical tip which is used to conceal the face of the wearer, and sometimes a cloak.  The color of the attire depends on what procession is taken place.  They look very similiar to the KKK so it took some getting used to during the first few processions I went to.  It takes each procession a long time to complete there route because the floats are carried instead of being on wheels.  They are made of solid wood and people are underneath them carrying the floats.  So, every few minutes the procession stops so that the people underneath can rest.

All of the processions were moving and beautiful, even to someone like me who isnt very religious or even Catholic, and they all drew hundreds of people from all over Spain and abroad.  The best one I went to was the night I got back from Italy.  I went with one of my friends to the river near Albaicin and Plaza Nueva to watch the Good Friday midnight procession.  When the church bells struck 12, all of the lights in Granada turned of and the whole city went silent.  it was extremly moving.  The procession was lit only by candelight and all the particpants were dressed in black.

On Easter Sunday, I went with two of my friends to the Catedral de Granada for its service.  It was Catholic, in Spanish, and echoy as the the cathedral is so big.  It was a nice service but just so different from the Easter services I go to at home as there were no flowers, bright colors, or music.  Still nice though and glad I went.  There were no celebratory processions that day as planned because it down poured all day so they were cancelled, which was disappointing.