Palm Sunday in Sevilla was like no other Palm Sunday I’ve ever experienced. Palm Sunday is the first day of Semana Santa, or Holy Week. This might be the most anticipated week for all of Sevilla. For Vendors, it’s the biggest money making week of the year, for those participating in the huge festivities, it’s the one time a year where they are the most important and will have all eyes on and for the rest, and it’s the time of year where almost any sevillano tries their hardest to “get the hell outta town”. Palm Sunday however is a day of family tradition for all.

Semana Santa in Sevilla is widely known for its extravagance. Tourists from all over the world come to Sevilla to witness the elaborate celebrations. Throughout this week, there are several parade like processions, carrying large floats that depict scenes from Jesus last week starting with Palm Sunday up until the resurrection on Easter Sunday. The people in these processions are those who are apart of brotherhoods in Sevilla called Confradías. Each day holds about eleven processions with many of them happening at the same time, but of course, taking different routes. In these processions each member of the brotherhood has three ways to participate. They can be nazarenos, penitents, or costaleros. The nazarenos wear long black or white robes with a coned hat (similar to the Ku Klux Klan) and carry long candle sticks made entirely of beeswax. Their job is to accompany the costaleros, whose job it is to carry large floats (which takes up to 30 people to carry) that are displayed during the processions.

The floats go from the Confradías’ church to the Cathedral of Sevilla, and back again. The task of carrying these floats through the street is by far the hardest. The costaleros usually wear split gunny sacks over their heads like hoods and carry the weight on their shoulders. They move in step, to the direction of a major that walks ahead of them The other job of the nazarenos is to accompany members who are doing a Penitencia, or penance. The “penitent” brothers wear the same robes as the nazarenos but wear different hoods. Their hoods cover their faces, but are not pointy like the others. The penitentes walk in the processions barefoot, and will sometimes have a ball and chain attached to their feet. These penitentes also carry a large cross similar to one that Jesus was crucified on (sometimes two) and are not to speak. This is so that they will always be in reverence. The purpose of the crosses is to symbolize penitence for sin. The hoods are worn to keep the identity of the penitentes hidden at all times so that “…their acts will remain from human vanity….”

My “palm Sunday experience” was very exciting but also a bit depressing as well. My host mom told me that on Palm Sunday, everyone in sevilla goes outside estrenando ropa, which means everyone wears new clothes. And boy was it true. Everyone dressed up as if they were going to a wedding. I made sure to dress as if I were going to church too so that I could cover up the fact that I was a Semana Santa first timer. Seeing all the people gather around the city with their families was really nice to see but also made me miss my own family. I saw so many kids on their moms and dads shoulders so excited to see El Señor Jesus and friends finding each other in the crowds trying to see if they could recognize their friends under the nazareno robes. This all reminded me of a family wedding in Mexico; Frantically getting ready for the days huge event and spending much needed time together. It really made me miss the big family get togethers that I once dreaded as a child.