Semana Santa. Holy week in Seville, Spain.

Semana Santa (Holy Week/easter) has been one of the most important celebrations in Seville for centuries.

Dates 2010: March 28 - April 4 // 2011: April 17 - 24

During holy week the Cofradías (Brotherhoods or Fraternities) process in penitence through the (many narrow) streets of the city, from their church to the Cathedral for a sacred ritual and back.

La Settimana Santa a Siviglia - Karwoche in Sevilla - Goede week in Sevilla - Semaine Sainte à Seville
La cruz de Guía - The guiding cross A banner which opens the procession.	Nazarenos - members of the fraternities that make up the procession. Dressed in tunics and with antifaz to go anonymous.	Nazarena - it's only since some two decades that women can be Nazareno too.
Paso del Cristo - float of a Christ in this case of la Hiniesta brotherhood	La Bulla is the crowd of people that gathers around the floats	The Mysteries represent a scene from the las days of Christ
Penitentes - members of the fraternity that perform the autentic act of penitence...	...carrying a wooden cross, sometimes two, and, frequently, walking barefoot. They follow directy after el Paso del Cristo.	Penitents dress like Nazarenos, but without a capirote (cone), leaving the upper part of the antifaz hanging backwards.
El Paso Palio - the float which carries La Virgen, for most people of Seville the most important part of the processions.	She is also called La Dolorosa (hurt), La Amargura (bitterness), or more optimistic La Esperanza (hope).	For the Sevillians each Virgen is different, unique and special, although to the visiting foreigner they may all seem the same...

Semana Santa a look behind the screen: Costaleros (carriers) uncovered. The Costaleros are the men that do the hard work of carrying the floats around. During Semana Santa they go practically unseen, because they are covered. But in the months before Semana Santa, when practicing the different and sometimes very difficult movements (rythm, accelaration, curves, jumps...), they are not. Here you have a first impression of life under the float, as a small tribute to these almost anonymous protagonists of Semana Santa: the Costaleros uncovered.

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Semana Santa, Holy Week in Seville

Starting on Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday), and ending on Domingo de Resurrección (Easter Sunday), there are 57 brotherhoods that pay the religious visist to the Cathedral of Seville, the third largest Cathedral in the world.

It obviously is a religious celebration, but atheists too will be marveled by this impressive happening that lasts a week. It could well be considered the biggest and longest open-air theatre performance, where the city as a whole is the stage and the people of Seville themselves are the actors.

Dates of Semana Santa

2010 : 28 de Marzo - 4 de Abril
2011 : 17 - 24 de Abril

Hotels and accommodations for Semana Santa in Seville

It's recommendable to make your reservations well ahaead, otherwise the most popular hotels and hostels may be fully booked.

We also recommend to consider coming on monday, tuesday or wednesday instead of Thursday/Friday. In the beginning of the week nor the hotels nor the city is too crowded yet and you can enjoy seeing the floats with more relax.

Click here for the list of hotels in Seville.

Floats and processions

Most brotherhoods carry two floats:
a float with a Christ, representing the distinct stages of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ
and a float with a Dolorosa (Mary the Virgin in pain) under a canopy.
Some brotherhoods even carry three floats, like the so-called: El Amor, La Cena, San Benito, or la Trinidad, others have just one like Santa Marta, La Quinta Angustia, la Soledad de San Buenaventura, or la Soledad de San Lorenzo.

Resuming, in the eight days of Semana Santa, a total of 57 brotherhoods, carry their 116 floats from their church to the Cathedral and back, in the company of around 60,000 brothers participating in their different appearances:

Nazarenos (Nazarenes)
Penitents
Costaleros (float carriers)
Acolytes

The crowd watching the Virgen of the Baratillo fraternity.

The number of spectators may rise up to the impressing number of one million people during the most important moments of Semana Santa in Seville: the early morning of Good Friday which is when the brotherhoods of el Silencio, el Gran Poder, La Macarena, El Calvario, La Esperanza de Triana and los Gitanos set off for their processional penitence to the Cathedral.

Nazarenes and Penitents