Semana Santa 2015 en Granada

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is one of the biggest holiday celebrations in Spain. The origins of the Semana Santa festivities go back centuries as Spain is, and has been, a predominantly Catholic country. Everybody gets the week off from work, and on most Spanish cities, from Palm Sunday up until Easter Sunday, the churches and townspeople celebrate with processions -- devotees parading around the city with a float depicting a scene from the Passion of Christ. While the processions were originally religious in nature, nowadays, they are mostly for show and spectacle. Most of the people who travel to see the processions are tourists rather than devout Catholics.

The last time I was living in Spain I headed to Rome for Holy Week. This time around, especially since I was living in Andalucía (considered to be one of the places with the best procesiones), I wanted to take advantage of that and experience Semana Santa here. Granada was crowded with people! I read in the papers that this year Andalucía received the highest number of tourists for Semana Santa since 2002, thanks probably to the extraordinarily good weather we had during the week. (It was raining and cold the week before Holy Week, we had good 20ºC weather during Holy Week, and right after Easter Sunday, the temperature dropped again to about 12ºC.)

Nazareños int he procession

It was quite the interesting experience, unlike anything I've experienced before. Click through to read more about the procesiones and the Semana Santa festivities in Granada.

Jueves Santo (Maundy Thursday)

I got back to Granada late Wednesday afternoon, but I was too tired to go out. On Thursday morning I first headed to the supermarket to get some food... and then realized that they were closed on Thursday and Friday! I had to make do with canned tuna, rice, and my roommate's leftover salad. Haha. Anyway, on to the Holy Week festivities. In the afternoon, I decided to do my own Visita Iglesia, the Catholic tradition of visiting seven different churches on Holy Thursday. The tradition is actually not very popular here in Spain. A few of the churches I visited were strangely closed on that day. On my way back home I passed by one of the main roads and saw the streets packed with people. The roads where the procession passes are usually blocked off, and people wait by the road for the processions to pass. I later learned that to you have to pay to get seats, and many people wait for hours by the road to get the best "free" spots.

Road blocks and people waiting for the procession

I was pretty lucky with watching the processions because the street which is the start of the official route of all the processions is literally just five minutes away from my house. (The processions start in the churches of the respective brotherhoods, but they all pass through the official route in the city center which starts around Calle Ganivet and ends near the Cathderal). So I was walking home that afternoon, I stumbled upon my first procession.

Each procession or procesión is organized by a brotherhood known as una cofradía or una hermandad, and has its own name (eg. Amor, Favores, Facundillos, Silencio). The processions are made up of several parts:

• Los nazareños -- The processions are led by nazareños: robed and hooded penitents. These nazareños are popular sights during Semana Santa and are easily recognizable by their veils called un antifaz which is connected to a tall cone shaped hat called un capirote. Keeping their faces covered signifies identicalness and anonymity, which is supposed to help them focus on prayer and atone for their sins. The colors of the robes and hoods vary depending on the color of the cofradía they are a part of. The nazareños at the very start of the procession carry a cross called the cruz de guía (guiding cross) which indicates the beginning of the procession. The other nazareños usually carry candles, lanterns, or incense.

Nazareños leading the procession

• Los ciriales -- These are members of the procession who are dressed like priests or altar boys. They are usually holding silver staffs and candles, and indicate that the float is coming up next in the procession.

Ciriales the procession

• El paso (the floats) -- This is the main part of the procession. Each of the floats are different, and carry a statue of either Christ or Mary. The statues of Christ are usually of Him carrying the cross or of the crucifixion, while Mary is depicted weeping. They are beautifully decorated with flowers, candles, and bronze, silver or gold. The floats are extremely heavy and carried on the heads of men called costaleros. There are well over 40 costaleros carrying one float, and they practice for weeks (sometimes months) before Holy Week, perfecting the rhythm and speed of their walk. (The second picture below is a picture I took in the beginning of March when I happened upon some costaleros practicing.) During the processions, the sides of the floats are covered by fabric, so the costaleros cannot see where they are going. There is a person called el capataz who is in charge of guiding the float along the route by giving the costaleros commands and signals. In Granada, the processions are extra impressive because most of them start at the Albayzín which means the pasos have to go through very narrow cobblestone streets.

El paso (the float)

Costaleros practicing carrying the float

• Banda de música (the band) -- Each procession has its own marching band (mostly made of trumpets and drums) which usually come last in the procession. Traditionally, the bands play soulful marching tunes, but here in Granada most of them were quite upbeat and showy.

The musical band

• The "mantilla" women -- The women who accompany the procession are usually dressed head to toe in black symbolizing morning and pain. Their outfit consists of a mid-length black dress, black shoes, fancy jewellery, and a black lace mantle on their head known as la mantilla. The mantilla consists of a high comb or peineta worn on the head which is covered by a black lace veil. They carry long candles in one hand and a rosary in the other. (They are quite beautiful. I didn't get a picture of them in this particular procession, but you'll see them later on).

There are about 4-5 different processions that happen each day, and the processions are really long. The total time (from the time it leaves the church up until it arrives back) can be about 7 hours! There is usually a schedule which tells you at what time the procession will be at a certain point. Since the start of the official route was near my place, I would pop out about 5 minutes before it was scheduled to pass by, stay for about 15-20 minutes, then head back home. (It was actually quite convenient for me.) For all the processions I saw, the timing was pretty exact; they did pass by at the time stated (they do have years of practice and experience). Below was the second procession I saw on Thursday. Like I mentioned before, much of the processions are for show, and you can see a cameraman in the first picture videoing the procession.

I also attended mass in the afternoon. I was really surprised because the church was far from full (in the Philippines, you have to arrive really early to be able to sit during mass, and the church is usually crowded with people). I guess this also goes to show how most of the people who come to the city are here to see the processions, and are not really religious church-goers.

The third and last procession I saw on that day was the Silencio, and is quite beautiful because the procession, as its name suggests, takes place in absolute silence (no marching bands for these processions). This procession started close to midnight (it passed by my place at around 2:45am); the streets were quiet and dark, and as the processions passed, the lights were turned off. It was a sombre but beautiful affair.

Viernes Santo (Good Friday)

In Granada, one popular Semana Santa tradition is the 3 o'clock prayer at Campo del Príncipe on Good Friday. On this day, granadinos and tourists alike head to Campo del Príncipe in Realejo, where in the middle of the plaza stands a huge stone statue of Christ on the Cross. The statue is there all year round, not just during Holy Week, and is known as Cristo de los Favores (Christ of Favors).

The beautiful statue of Cristo de los Favores

I headed there at around 2 to try and get a good spot near the center. At around 2:15 the bishop (I think) came and proceeded to do the Way of the Cross with the people. There is a lot of fervent praying (you're 'allowed' to ask for 3 favors), and at 3pm as the Way of the Cross ends, the whole plaza is silent reflecting on Christ's death.

Campo del Príncipe

Nazareños ready to begin their procession after the prayers 

I had heard that most of the people stay in the plaza until about 6pm when the procession of the cofradía Cristo de los Favores departs from that plaza. It was quite hot, and I also didn't want to wait that long, so after the 3pm prayer, I decided to make my way back home. As I was walking down, I lucked out and was right by the street in which the procession was passing. There was no one in front of me so I decided to stay and watch the procession go by. It was nice to be able to see the entire procession up close!

A nazareño high fiving a little kid

The women I was talking about earlier, with the mantilla on their head

A little girl dressed up in the traditional mantilla outfit

Nazareños

More nazareños

Monaguillos -- mini ciriales

Ciriales signalling the upcoming float

El paso

People following the float after it passes

In the afternoon I attended mass, then in the evening I caught another procession as it passed the street near my house. It was the most elaborate one I've seen thus far, adorned all in gold. This procession was of the Cofradía de San Jerónimo, and is the oldest brotherhood of Granada.

El paso de San Jerónimo

Sábado Santo (Black Saturday)

Black Saturday is actually the quietest day of the Holy Week. The supermarkets finally opened today (I went overboard and stocked up on food, haha), though other shops still remained closed. Today, there was also only one procession which took place in the evening. I had planned to catch it before I headed to mass, but for some reason, the procession was running late (I never got to find out why), so I had to leave in order to make it to the Easter Vigil. The Easter Vigil was similar to the one we had back home, but again, I was surprised by the small number of people in mass.

Domingo de Resurreción (Easter Sunday)

Finally, we have Easter Sunday! On Thursday, all the church bells go silent and they do not ring again until Easter Sunday. On this day, most of the processions take place in the morning, and are accompanied by ringing bells. I was on my way to mass when I lucked out and caught a procession going by right outside the church.

El Paso de Triunfo

El Paso de Triunfo

Here you can see the feet of the costaleros carrying the float

This float was so beautiful!

There is also one special procession on Easter Sunday called los Facundillos. The paso in this procession depicts the Child Jesus and is carried by the youth (the float is much smaller and not as heavy). It was really cute to see!

Also, all of the children have small clay bells which they ring when the float passes by.

Children holding their bells waiting for the float to pass by

Children holding their bells waiting for the float to pass by

Cute kid with a drum

The marching band was also made up of youth

And with that, the Semana Santa came to an end. Some cities also celebrate Easter Monday the day after, but for Granada, it was back to work. Although nowadays the celebrations are more cultural than religious in nature, it was nevertheless an interesting and unique experience.