Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Holy Week) has certainly been a week full of intrigue. The Spanish have some fascinating traditions during this week – many of which still remain a mystery to me even after researching them. The most notable among these traditions are the Holy Week processions. The processions are like parades through the streets of Spain consisting of: 100-200 people in robes and capirotes (pointed hats), followed by a float that depicts a scene from the final week of Christ’s life, followed by a full band, and more people in robes and capirotes (even children). The tradition is based in Catholicism, and everyone involved in the parade is decked-out in Catholic robes and garb. Also walking among the parade are altar boys who wave balls of burning incense up and down the streets, filling the air with its mystical scent. Now, allow me to explain to you the little I know about these fascinating traditions! The floats are intricately detailed, life-size scenes from the final week of Jesus’ life. They are inlaid with gold, and covered with hundreds of white roses, lilies, and other flowers. These floats can weigh up to 7,000 pounds, but here’s the clincher – they are carried on the backs of people rather than pulled on wheels! The carriers of the floats practice for weeks before the Semana Santa celebrations, and take the job incredibly seriously. Some people even carry the floats barefoot as a form of penance. But possibly a thing of even more mystery and intrigue are the capirotes – the tall, pointed hats worn by hundreds of people in the procession. I researched this tradition and it appears that very little is known about its origin and history. What I did learn is that historically, the hats were used during capital punishment in Spain. They were also used during the inquisition, and the condemned person would be forced to wear a capirote as a form of public humiliation. Today, it is used in the processions as a sign of mourning the death of Christ. On Easter Sunday the hats are taken off in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. What you also have probably noticed is that this type of hat was adopted by the detestable Ku Klux Klan. There is no relation, however, between the two groups and it is not understood why the KKK chose to adopt this particular type of outfit; except that it was a way of disguising themselves, and that the white color of the outfits may have represented their racist, white supremacist ideology. Here are some pictures of the Semana Santa processions!


Here are the scary-looking capirote wearers! There are usually 100-200 of them!

This is at a different procession. These people wore blue hats.
This is one of the floats - check out all that gold - it's real! As Susy, my Dominican friend said, "It's all the gold they stole from my country!"

Underneath all that gold there are people carrying the float - here's a picture of their feet:

This is Torrija - a typical Spanish treat at Easter. It's like a really decadant form of French toast.