Seville : Sunday 17th April (Palm Sunday) written by Annalisa

On Sunday,  Stacey and I woke up lazily and I enjoyed mooching around in the hostel kitchen munching on toast and drinking bad coffee whilst Stacey started to write her first blog entry. After getting ready and saying goodbye to our lovely new German mate, we made for the city centre in search of grub! As we walked along, we noticed that the centre was bustling and crowded with people, all dressed like they were going to a wedding. Quickly dodging the millions of people on the street, we soon found a little restaurant on a corner, sat down and ordered tapas. The restaurant was quite posh with tiny servings; we ordered a goat’s cheese salad, some salami and a bottle of sparkling rose. The food was gobbled up within seconds and left Stacey and I gulping down the wine which went straight to our heads, leaving us quite tipsy!

We soon realised that as it was Palm Sunday, and the first day of Semana Santa (Spanish Easter celebrations), which meant the first day of processions. I’m attaching a Wikipedia link here which explains with great detail the ins and outs of the processions and their meaning, but it’s pretty much a reconstruction of the story leading up to Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Though I had seen the processions before in Granada two years ago, nothing prepared me for the Sevilla ones. The magnitude, quality and organisation of these processions really impressed us. After finishing our lunch, we headed round the corner where the first procession was about to start. A mixture of 34 degree heat, wine, and musicians playing their little socks off left us speechless and completely overwhelmed.  Though each procession differs slightly the general set up is as following:

•  A parade of people dressed up in what can only be described as Klu Klux Klan outfits, carrying long candles and burning incense on the streets. (see photo below!) They often hand out sweets or tiny business like cards with the picture of the float which follows them. If you receive a sweet or a card, I think it’s meant to be quite special, like receiving a blessing from a priest or something.  In fact I remember seeing one of them giving a sweet to a guy, who then handed it to his girlfriend who rewarded him with a kiss as if he’d just given her an amazing present or something!

• The float then follows. This is the most impressive part (I think) of the procession. The float is mahoosive (word taken from Stacey’s word bank). They seem to be made of wood and metal and the float contains part of the story of the crucifixion. So for example, the first float we saw (see photos below) showed a statue of Jesus carrying the cross on his shoulders. 

The floats are really richly decorated with ornate fabric, candles and flowers. What is shocking however, is the size of the float. It’s so big that it's carried by about 50 + people who hide underneath it.  These people are not able to see anything, as the bottom of the float is covered with material (like a long table cloth) hiding them out of the way. They definitely have the worst job in the entire procession!! All you can see is their feet. A man goes in front and behind them shouting numbers and they march to a set beat. When they stop, a man behind quickly feeds them water (as they are probably dying from dehydration and exhaustion!) and then they soon start again.  The video will show this!!

• A band follows this. The bands were absolutely amazing. As Stacey and I were right at the front we saw and heard pretty much everything. The brass instruments and the drums piercing noises went right through your body. It was breathtaking and Stacey and I felt quite emotional actually.

The processions carry on for hours, usually form 4pm to 2am.  After about 2 hours we got quite dehydrated and headed back to Triana, the area where out hostel was, grabbed a drink and some tapas and chilled for a bit. In the evening we got dolled up and headed to Sevilla’s Barceló hotel where we met up with Matt, one of Stacey’s old work mates and had a drink in the hotel bar.