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MUST
SEE – HOLY WEEK
No other religious event exhibits the magnitude and fanfare
than the celebrated Holy Week or Semana Santa of Seville. Throughout
March and April each year, a host of andalusian towns pay homage
to Christ, the Virgin Mary, as well as their patron saints,
and churchgoers everywhere come to express their attachment
to their traditions. All along the routes of this religious
festival, solemnity is not always the keynote.
Holy week, in this region of Spain, is a precious moment in
time for its people. It is an ancient rite that dates back to
the Christian conquest of Andalusia and has come to symbolize
the symbiosis of art, passion and spiritual fervor. Spaniards
are a devout, catholic people, and they express their religious
zeal throughout this Holy Week in a moveable feast, which begins
on Palm Sunday. The passion of Christ and the sorrows of the
Blessed Virgin Mary are exhibited in the form of colorful processions
through the streets of the city. These processions date back
to the 16th Century, at a time when the Catholic Church strived
to strengthen the faith of its people. It sought to revive the
passion of Christ through the physical reenactment of the crucifixion
of Jesus. Thus, during the days of Semana Santa, the Spanish
people become the repenting Nazarene expressing sorrow and devotion
in a splendid and lavish religious extravaganza.
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