Holy Week in Seville
The Holy Week ( Semana Santa ) of Seville, in Andalusia is the religious celebration most important of the city, and one of most famous of Spain. Just like the Feria de Abril which it precedes by a few weeks, it rate/rhythm the annual calendar of the city, which lives during one week at the rate/rhythm of the processions.
It begins the Palm Sunday and is completed one week later, Sunday of Easter, for the commemoration of the Résurrection of the Christ. During these eight days dedicated to the Passion of Christ, 57 brotherhoods ( Hermandades and Cofradías ) leave in procession to go to the Cathédrale, to conclude their station from penitence, before returning towards their starting point.
Each one of these congregations leads at the time of its long advance its pasos , these furnace bridges carried with back of men, richly decorated and who are used as supports with groups carved out of wood representing of the scenes of Passion. A considerable crowd of sévillans, Spanish and foreigners, believers and unbelievers press themselves in the streets of the city to collect or simply admire the passage of these imposing processions the penitent ones, of which some are accompanied by music.
Brotherhoods
The brotherhoods, of which oldest go back to the Moyen-âge, are regroupings of faithful laic. The seat of these congregations is based in vaults or churches which shelter the effigies or relics of Christ, the Virgin or a saint, to which the members express their deep attachment.
Gathered around the Christian ideals (formation, worship and charity) of the company to which they belong, they are devoted all the year to various charitable organizations, and the catholic worship. The Holy Week however constitutes the point of organ of their year of faith, the occasion to make penitence in this end of Lent and with the approach of the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Each of the 57 cofradías of the Holy Week is directed by a Hermano Mayor , a major brother. These persons in charge elect the leaders of the Consejo General of Hermandades there Cofradías , organization which federates the hermandades and undertakes to coordinate their activities and to organize the processions.
Linked by the devotion to which she testifies with regard to the holy images that she preserves in her seat, each hermandad accompanies these invaluable effigies in the streets by the cities. Gone up on the pasos , the statues represent the Vierge and the Christ, which is often accompanied by other characters of the Évangiles or the Christian Hagiographie, in a setting in scene evoking of the episodes of Passion. In the majority of the brotherhoods, Marie and Jesus are represented on two pasos different: the paso of the Virgin precedes that by Christ. These " autels" are, no matter what it arrives, always richly decorated with invaluable gildings, mouldings and other fabrics. These painted wood sculptures are for many true works of art, carried out by large Masters of the Spanish Baroque.
At the time of the processions which carry out these pasos through Seville, the cofrades are distributed according to their functions:
- the costaleros : they carry the pasos , of which the constrained weight to have an important manpower, turning with regular intervals. The brotherhoods have from one to three pasos , that is to say as many groups of carriers;
- the capataz : it is the person in charge of the team of the costaleros . He directs the paso and guides the carriers by the voice by indicating the direction to be taken. He is assisted of contraguías . It orders the lifting or the stop of the paso , using the llamador or martillo , stop located in front of the furnace bridge.
- the nazarenos : they are the penitent ones which goes to the front of the pasos , vêtus of a tunic and a hood (the capirote ), whose colors vary from one brotherhood to another, and even within a brotherhood, according to the paso that it precedes.
Course of the processions
The route of the brotherhoods is fixed by advance, then announced publicly with the Royal Vault of the Cathedral 14 days before the beginning of the Holy Week. This ceremony, whose origin goes up with the Synode diocesan of 1604, is known under the name of Cabildo of Toma de Horas . Each brotherhood, at the day and hour which fall to him, leaves in procession since the church or the vault where its seat is established. The procession, formed of the hundreds even of the thousands of members of the company, then starts its way of penitence towards the cathedral. To reach this one, it must carry out the last part of its course on an official route, common to all the cofradías : the Will square Oficial . This segment leads the brotherhoods to pass in front of the Town hall. Once arrived at the cathedral, the congregations complete their station of penitence before joining their starting point which they will regain afterwards of the hours of procession in the streets of Seville. The spectacular aspect of these litanies of cofrades (members of the cofradías ) is explained by their accumulation, the beauty baroque of the pasos , the absolute silence of the processions, or on the contrary their solemn music, but also by their projection in the lanes of the old city, which forms an imposing framework. The tortuous configuration of certain ways makes sometimes perilous their progression, which contributes to give more plume still to their walk, which seems interminable: it is often necessary to have patience more than one hour to see passing the totality of a hermandad . The processions carry out stops, which are then the occasion to hear Saeta S entonnées by anonymities, since the street or a balcony. The moment most favourable with these improvisations is at the exit and the return of the procession.
The Holy Week reaches its paroxysm at the time of the Madrugá , which, in the night of the holy Thursday to Friday, sees leaving the most famous congregations Seville: Macarena, Esperanza de Triana, Jesús del Gran Poder,… The city knows this night the strongest multitude of the week.
Exit of the Brotherhoods
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Sunday of Branches: The Palm Sunday ( Domingo de Ramos ) opens the celebrations of the Holy Week. One commemorates there the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem.
- Hermandad of Borriquita
- Hermandad de Jesús Despojado
- Hermandad of Paz
- Hermandad of Cena
- Hermandad of Hiniesta
- Hermandad de San Castling
- Hermandad of Estrella
- Hermandad of Amargura
- Hermandad de El Amor
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holy Monday: holy Monday reminds the work of evangelization carried out towards Jesus.
- Hermandad de El Beso de Judas
- Hermandad de Santa Genoveva
- Hermandad de Santa Marta
- Hermandad de San Gonzalo
- Hermandad de Vera-Cruz
- Hermandad de Las Penas de San Vicente
- Hermandad de Las Aguas
- Hermandad de El Museo
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holy Tuesday: holy Tuesday points out the continuation of the evangelization by Jesus.
- Hermandad de El Cerro
- Hermandad de Los Javieres
- Hermandad de San Esteban
- Hermandad de Los Estudiantes
- Hermandad de San Benito
- Hermandad of Candelaria
- Hermandad de El Dulce Number
- Hermandad de Santa Cruz
- holy Wednesday: Holy Wednesday also reminds the action évangélisatrice of Jesus, who was betrayed this day by Judas.
- Hermandad of Sed
- Hermandad de San Bernardo
- Hermandad de El Buen Fin
- Hermandad of Lanzada
- Hermandad de El Baratillo
- Hermandad de Cristo of Burgos
- Hermandad de Las Siete Palavered
- Hermandad de Los Panaderos
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Maundy Thursday: The Maundy Thursday commemorates for the Christian the institution by the Christ of the Cène, or Eucharistie, at the time of the last meal taken with its disciples before his arrest.
- Hermandad de Los Negritos
- Hermandad of Exaltación
- Hermandad de Las Cigarreras
- Hermandad of Assembles-Sión
- Hermandad de Quinta Angustia
- Hermandad de El Valle
- Hermandad de Pasión
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Madrugá : Madrugá is the culminating point of the Holy Week in Seville. In the night of the holy Thursday to Friday, she sees leaving the emblématiques brotherhoods, which count among oldest, some going up to the Middle Ages.
- Hermandad de El Silencio
- Hermandad de Jesús del Gran Poder
- Hermandad of Esperanza Macarena
- Hermandad de El Calvario
- Hermandad de Esperanza de Triana
- Hermandad de Los Gitanos
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Good Friday: The Good Friday celebrates the Passion of Christ.
- Hermandad of Carretería
- Hermandad de Soledad de San Buenaventura
- Hermandad de El Cachorro
- Hermandad of O
- Hermandad de Tres Caídas de San Isidoro
- Hermandad de Montserrat
- Hermandad de Sagrada Mortaja
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Easter Saturday: the Easter Saturday commemorates the Deposition. It is one day of waiting before Resurrection.
- Hermandad de Los Servitas
- Hermandad of Trinidad
- Hermandad de Santo Entierro
- Hermandad of Soledad de San Lorenzo
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Easter Sunday: Easter Sunday ( Domingo de Resurrección ) celebrates the Résurrection of Jesus.
- Hermandad de El Resucitado
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