Celebrating Semana Santa Like a Local: Easter in Spain

Easter in Spain looks very different than what we are accustomed to! After two years in Japan, where Easter isn't celebrated outside of the Base, and last year's cancellations of all Spanish celebrations because of horrible rainy weather, I was eager to get out and experience some local culture!

Spain was a deeply Catholic country until the death of Spain's dictator in 1975. With Franco's death, people had more religious freedom and less direct church involvement. While the Spanish may see Catholicism as more of a cultural aspect of life than a religious one, you wouldn't be able to tell during their annual Easter celebration.

Maundy Thursday, April 17: Rota Procession

All week leading up to Easter Sunday, there were processions through the streets. Each procession included a single pasos, a religious float depicting Jesus and Mother Mary. These pasos are always displayed in local churches year-round, but get a once-a-year field trip through the city's streets for Semana Santa. These floats are carried by 50+ men through the city streets, and the processions can last all night- winding through the tight streets is not for the weak.

But before spotting the impressive pasos, the processions begin with penitentes and nazarenos. Those pointy hat figures carrying crosses and candles are quite jarring and definitely left us with a horrible gut feeling. This image carries brutal meaning for Americans, but it's important to clarify that, for the Spanish, this anonymous attire dates back to the 16th century. These hooded figures remain anonymous as they walk in silence, many barefoot, as a way to "reflect, repent, and participate in devotion."

Bryan and I power-walked from our house to downtown Rota for the Maundy Thursday procession. By following the crowds, we found a spot right outside Parroquia Nuestra Señora de la O, Rota's main church, where we experienced our first sighting of the penitentes and nazarenos. Whew.

For the first procession, we took it in. We looked around. We soaked in the emotions and feelings coming off those watching the procession and those in the procession. It was quite a lot.

Good Friday, April 18: Cadiz & Rota Processions

Bryan had Good Friday off from work, so I didn't take a sub call! Instead, we hopped in the car and headed to Cadiz to see some processions in a bigger city. With Cadiz being the oldest city in Spain and one of the oldest cities in Western Europe, we knew these processions would be impactful. It also doesn't hurt that the Lutrells joined us for the experience! Dean and Beth, alongside their three kiddos, Micah, Abby, and Caleb, enjoyed seeing Cadiz's procession of Jesus on the cross.

With these processions taking nearly an hour to pass by, we paused between parades for dinner at our favorite TKO tacos! When we made it to the next procession, depicting Jesus being offered the sour wine while nailed to the cross.

With kids getting tired, we all decided the Cadiz crowds were a little much. Instead of fighting upstream to see the final procession of the evening, Bryan and I decided to head back to Rota and see the night procession in our hometown instead.

You may notice that the first few processions we saw had penitentes and nazarenos dressed in red. The colors of their hooded outfits hold meaning; red for the color of martyrdom and sacrifice, representing the blood of Christ. This was matched with white- think resurrection, purity, and peace.

 The last Good Friday procession in Rota had penitentes and nazarenos dressed in green, symbolizing hope. Green is often worn by brotherhoods dedicated to the Virgin Mary, giving us a hint at the night's main float.

Throughout our week of Semana Santa, we noticed kids running around with mismatched balls of wax. Tonight, we learned that kids have turned these processions into a type of game; as the penitentes and nazarenos pause their walking, kids run up to their giant candles to collect the dripping hot wax. These wax collections become a status symbol of years of dedication and a way to show off the amount of time they have spent following the processions! The fifth picture below shows a mom helping her son begin his wax ball!

These processions are visually impactful, which makes a lot of sense. These floats date back to the 16th century, when most people couldn't read and their understanding of Christ's story came from visual images and auditory learning. Each wax figure seems life-like and is human-sized; I understand how seeing these statues paraded through the streets each Semana Santa season would be memorable. No wonder this tradition has lasted over the years!

Easter Sunday, April 20: Running of the Bulls

Semana Santa may be famous for Spain's street processions, but it is also known as the season of Running of the Bulls in Southern Spain! The most famous Running of the Bulls gathering happens during the second week in July in Pamplona, Spain, but for Andalucians, Easter Sunday is THE day!

After planning to meet up with Jaime and her local friend, Manuel, Bryan and I picked up Aidan for a drive to our favorite white town, Vejer de la Frontera! Easter morning looked very different for us this year; with a picnic blanket claiming our spot, we were packed in with tons of locals sitting on top of a wall awaiting the noon start of the bull run!

Unlike Pamplona, where the bulls run through the street before entering the bull ring for a traditional Bull Fight, Vejer's bulls are brought in for a run, released in the street to run off some energy, and then loaded back on a truck and returned to the fields. That's right: these bulls get to live out a long life. There's no way I was attending another event where bulls die...

We watched as people flooded the streets, bands played, hats and bandanas were passed out, and even a blow-up bull costume paraded through the streets at 10 am! The energy was palpable; the hype was rising and people were ready for the day's events!

At noon, the canon went off and the first bull was released in the streets. Eventually, a trickle of people jogged by, followed by a rush of sprinters as the bull came into view! As people climbed into strategically-placed empty dumpsters or wiggled between the fence's bars, the bull trotted up the street, ignoring all the cheering and yelling. Manuel explained that the streets of Vejer had been blocked off by temporary fences along the route and the bull would be steered to turn around and run back and forth a few times.

The noon bull was pretty chill. He ran back and forth a few times before getting tired and slowing to a dull run. He simply ignored the jeering crowds and men waving shirts in his peripheral vision.

But the 1:00 bull was completely different! This bull came out angry at being transported from his chill field. He was bucking at men, he tried flipping one of the dumpsters full of kids, and he rammed into the fence, scaring a lot of bystanders on the other side! This bull was full of energy and reacted to the cheering crowds much more than the first bull of the day. I will admit, I was happy to be sitting high over the street with no chance of interaction with this fiery fiend.

At 2:30 pm our second bull-friend was loaded back on the truck and we headed off for a lunch break at one of our favorite Moroccan restaurants, Califa. After our filling meal, we made our way back to the blocked-off streets and found the place completely overrun with people!

Everyone, and I mean everyone, came out of the woodwork for the final running of the day. At 5 pm, the final bull was released on the streets, and we climbed a thin, brick wall with the hopes of setting our eyes on the final run. While we were risking our lives on this rickety wall, mayhem occurred in the streets. This bull was the most aggressive of the day. While he only ran past our viewpoint, he rammed into two men further up the street, sending both to the hospital...

From our vantage point, the day was sizzling with energy and nerves. We didn't know about the two individuals until later that night when videos surfaced on Facebook and Spanish news outlets.

We did experience a small bit of the fear those runners must have felt. Announcements were made and translated by Manuel, letting us know the final bull was fenced in and the workers were trying to get him on the truck. Thinking the streets were safe, we began walking towards the car and the plaza where the bull was blocked in, when a horde of people began sprinting in our direction. Fear seized us all as people shouted that the "toro" had gotten out of the fence...imagining the worst, all five of us ran to the closest gate and slid between the bars. With hands and feet trembling and hearts pounding, we found out the bull had not gotten loose...it was just hysteria.

Talk about fear.

I have to say, in the fear of the moment and over all those people scrambling around, all I heard was Bryan screaming my name and reaching for me. If we were going to be trampled, we were going down together! Luckily, we weren't actually in danger, but good to know I married a man who thought of me in the moments of panic!

We ended our Semana Santa celebrations in Vejer's city square, where live music, drinks, and partying filled this white town! Feeling brave now that the streets were cleared of danger, Bryan even climbed up one of the barreras, a giant wooden pole with steps to help people climb up and out of the way of the raging bull during the runs!

From religious processions through Cadiz and Rota's tight roads, to the Running of the Bulls in Vejer's city streets, this Easter week has been one we will never forget. While not within the walls of a church, we spent Semana Santa alongside Spanish locals, admiring the traditional storytelling of Christ's death and resurrection and remembering the sacrifice and miracles that are told each Easter season.

¡Feliz Pascua!

--Katie