Semana Santa and Spring Break

Semana Santa in Spain is an experience that does not compare to anything else that I have ever experienced. It is perhaps most famous in the south of Spain, specifically in Sevilla and Málaga (because of Antonio Banderas, yes, that Antonio Banderas), but the north (such as Salamanca) has a long tradition as well. The difference between the north and the south primarily manifests itself in the pasos/imágenes (biblical scenes depicting, primarily, the life of Jesus), as the north follows a much more realistic approach (including the blood, suffering, and sadness of the Passion), whereas the south typically has a happier tone (without the bloody mess and with bright, happy colors).

Interesting is the history/possible theories or explanations of the word pasos/imágenes, which in English would be most closely translated as float, though I think that this word evokes some negative connotations. I think that the word paso comes from the verb pasar, which means to pass. This is how I originally understood the meaning of the word: it is something that passes by. However, I was told that this is not the true meaning. Paso means step, as in step-by-step instructions. This makes sense if one watches some videos of the processions, as there are penitents that carry on their shoulders these floats that weight hundreds of pounds. Yes, that is right, there are a whole bunch of (typically) men that are carrying these floats around the city, with a typical procession lasting about five hours. For this reason, it is necessary for the men to move very slowly, step-by-step. For this reason, some say that the floats are called pasos. There was another theory that I heard, but that I did not understand or remember, but the typical and least difficult word to understand is imagen, which simply means image, as they are typically images of the life and Passion of Jesus Christ.

As I said, the processions in the north are much more serious than the ones in the south, so these processions were extremely quiet (or the vast majority of them were). It was impressive to see how many people would come out for these parades. I do not think I have seen so many people in Salamanca before...ever. It was truly impressive. Furthermore, I was shocked to realize that the Spanish were able to be quiet for so long, especially if you have read my previous posts about the loudness of the students in my class.

In person, I was fortunate enough to experience some Semana Santa processions in two different northern cities: Zamora and Salamanca. What follows is a brief description of my interpretation of Semana Santa in these places, in a bulleted list format because these are going to be very random and probably unrelated observations/thoughts.

• In a recent New York Times article about Semana Santa in the south of Spain, I read that 73% of the Spanish population identifies with the Roman Catholic faith. However, only 18% of them said that they are practicing Catholics. This is perhaps not surprising, as more and more Catholics are becoming much less involved in the practice and simply prefer to think of themselves as being part of that community. During these processions, I definitely saw the 73% of the Salamanca population, as the crowds that formed for these processions were impressive.
• The people walking in these processions are sometimes really religiously zealous, and are participating in this experience as an act of penance. They are doing this to be forgiven of some of their sins. However, there seems to be other individuals who are there just so they can say that they walked in this procession. In Zamora, there were some, I am assuming, teenage boys walking in the procession. The procession came to a halt and these boys started flirting with the girls they happened to find themselves in front of. I was not entirely sure how to take this.
• At the opposite extreme, there were some people who were literally crying because their procession, their paso, did not leave the church due to inclement weather (it rained on most of the processions, and since they are extremely precious and dear to the people - some of them really old as well, dating from the 16th or 17th centuries - they do not tend to leave the church). When this happens, there are literally people crying because it did not leave this year. Related to this, there were many people who would yell at the processions with the Virgin Mary (or other Virgins important to the Church), that she lives still, how beautiful she was, and just outwardly expressed their admiration for the imagen.

I think that is it. I definitely thought there was going to be more to say about Semana Santa, but I guess that I mentioned a lot of the interesting stuff earlier, in the informational bit I provided before the list. Now I am going to try to be brief in my explanation of my trip through Andalucía, the region that dominates the south of Spain, which is where I went the Monday following Easter Sunday and was until this past Saturday, April 6. 

Due to Will's decision to change his itinerary for after his trip to Morocco the week before we were going to travel through Andalucía, I was on my own from Salamanca to Sevilla, and then from Sevilla to Córdoba. Originally, the plan was going to be to meet in Sevilla and then go to Córdoba together. So I set out Monday morning on the bus to Sevilla. It was a really cool bus ride and I decided that I like doing this type of travel through Spain because even though it takes a lot longer than a plane or the train, I feel like I get time to soak up the scenery and geography that Spain boasts. I also got to stop in various small towns on the way, as we dropped people off and picked others up. It was super cool to see how beautiful Spain actually is, especially after taking my Spanish Geography class. I felt like the stuff that I was learning about in that class was actually coming in use during my trip down, as I reviewed the geological evolution of the Peninsula as well as the types of climate and vegetation that I was passing through. I got to see a lot of small towns that were truly quaint and that one day I would like to visit.

The bus ride from Sevilla to Córdoba was less than interesting, as I slept for the vast majority of it and because there were no stops and it was only a few hours long. When I arrived in Córdoba, I was immediately charmed. I liked the city at the first sight. After a little bit of a walk and a bit of confusion as to how to get to the hostel we were staying in, I finally made it there and Will met me. He told me that he had been in Córdoba since about noon (I got there around 7pm), so we went to the hostel and chilled for the rest of the night, taking a little bit of a stroll around the city. 

The next morning we were up and at 'em really early, ready to visit the Cathedral/Mosque that dominates the city's landscape. It was a beautiful day and we visited it, got some churros and coffee for breakfast, and then walked around the city. We wandered through the absolutely charming and gorgeous Jewish quarter, visiting the thirteenth century synagogue there that is only one of three existing synagogues in Spain (the other two are in Toledo, one of which I visited). After that, we did some lunch and then I wandered through the city a bit while Will rested. after that, we got back together and decided to just wander around the city, an activity that I like very much. As I was thinking about how not many other people enjoy doing this as much as I do, I came to the following opinion: there are a lot of people that say they have been here or been there, but I think that you can only truly say that you have been to Córdoba if you walk around the city a little bit. If you only go to Córdoba to see the Cathedral/Mosque or the Alcázar (Castle), you have seen these monuments, but you have not seen the city and so you cannot say that you have been to Córdoba. You may say that you have been to the Cathedral of Córdoba, but I think that in order to say that you have been to Córdoba that you need to walk around and see more than just the tourist attractions. This way, you get to experience what life is like for those individuals that call that city their home. It is the experiencing of the mundane that endows an individual with the ability to truly make an opinion about a city.

We walked around, went for tapas for lunch and dinner, and then called it an early night since we were super tired from walking around all day. The next morning, we got up and went to visit the Alcázar and the Arab baths, grabbed some freshly made churros for breakfast again, and went to catch our bus to Granada. This bus trip was also filled with me resting since I had not slept well and was still tired. We got to Granada, managed to find our hostel after some frustration and confusion (mostly because I had a vague idea of where it was supposed to be and my map proved to be horrible), and found out what a great view we had from the rooftop terrace of our hostel. It was truly amazing, becoming truly awe-inspiring when the clouds cleared (it was sorta cloudy and rainy the entire time we were there) and we could watch the sun set over Granada. That night, we met up with some other ISA Salamanca kids and went for dinner and hung out for a while. We met a British dude and a kid from North Carolina who were studying in Santander (a city on Spain's northern coast), and chatted with them for a bit over drinks. It was fun, but I was pooped after the day's travelling, so I wanted to go to bed. 

The next morning, Will and I went down to pick up our tourist card that would grant us entrance to the Alhambra, the Cathedral, a bus ride, and city bus passes. After some more confusion and difficulty locating the city government's building, we finally found it and then went to find the bus stop. This was also frustrating, but we eventually found it. We got there, took the bus ride around the city and got to see the most impressive sights and monuments of Granada. It was incredibly touristy, but nice to be able to see Granada in one and a half hours without having to walk through it too much. After this, we walked around for a bit and then went to the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel after lunch time was over and it had opened again. 

Both sites were extremely interesting and I enjoyed them thoroughly. I think that the Cathedral of Granada is my favorite cathedral that I have seen thus far in Spain. The Royal Chapel was really cool too, but it was unfortunately forbidden to take photos inside of it, so all I am left with are memories, but what sweet memories they are. Inside of the Chapel is the final resting place of the Catholic Monarchs that were responsible for the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, the expulsion of the Moors and any remaining Jews in Spain, they endorsed Columbus' mission to the New World, and left hundreds of other stories as their legacy. Their subterranean coffins were available for viewing, which was truly a sight. These figures have been merely characters in history books for me for so long, but now I know that they existed at some point, bringing all of those stories that I have heard and all the information that I know about them to light and making them more relevant. It was truly a great experience for the history buff in me.

We went back to the hostel, where Will made some stir fry for dinner. It was this night that we met some really cool and interesting people from Barcelona. They had just come from Morocco and were travelling through Andalucía until they eventually made their way back to Cambridge, England, which is where the guy was studying for a Masters in theoretical physics. His English was therefore superb, so Will was excited to talk to them about language, physics, and whatever else came to his mind. The girl was an architect working in Barcelona, but she did not say much. We went out for some flamenco and tapas with them before retiring for the evening. 

The next day was our visit to the Alhambra, the monument that everyone comes to Granada to see. It was really cool to walk through the same halls that had been traversed so many hundreds of years ago by important Muslim and Catholic rulers. Luckily, our visit did not get rained on, and by the time we got back to the hostel, the afternoon was filled with rain, which was unfortunate, but I was glad that it just did not rain while we were out and about. 

We had some more stir fry, thanks to Will, for dinner, talked with our new friends for a bit, said our goodbyes, and then went to bed, as we had to get up early for our bus back to Salamanca the next morning. We got to the bus station with just a few minutes to spare, and made the ten hour bus ride journey back to Salamanca, stopping once in Sevilla for a small lay-over before continuing to Salamanca. It felt good to be back in my city after being gone for a week.

Overall, I think that I liked Córdoba as a city, but the landscape of Granada was much better (note all the pictures of it on Facebook). The trip was really cool, as I get much more comfortable with travelling alone in Spain and am definitely ready to go other places by myself. At the same time, I realized that when you travel with one person for a long time, you learn a lot about that other person, but you learn even more about yourself. You learn what you look for in a travelling person, what you hope you do not do, and what you want to personally work on. It was a good experience to have, as I think that it will prepare me for similar experiences in the future.

Well, this post is getting ridiculously long, but I hope that it was much easier to read than my other posts, as I think that it provided just enough details without going overboard with them. I also hope that I was able to fill in the gaps that you are seeing in the Facebook photos, and that you feel comfortable asking me further questions or for more comments if you have them or think I need to address them. Until next time...