Semana Santa: Our Final Easter Season in Spain
- Bryan Johnson
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Our third, and final, Semana Santa in Spain looks much different this year; we have an empty house, a baby on the way, and are planning a move across the ocean! Last year, we celebrated Easter Sunday at the Running of the Bulls in Arcos, but with all the big changes headed our way in the coming weeks, we stayed closer to home and attended a few of the city's processionals instead.
March 29: Palm Sunday
Katie and I began Holy Week festivities by making the 20-minute walk downtown for the Palm Sunday processional!
If you check out the video below, you'll see the pasos (float) being carried by at least 50 men, called costaleros. These men wear flour sack-wraps on their heads to help balance the weight of these massive floats.
April 2: Maundy Thursday Procession
If you are anything like Katie and I, you get a strange feeling seeing the Spanish hooded figures parading through the streets. Knowing the US has a bad reputation for pointed-hood figures, it's no surprise this image makes us a little uncomfortable.
But no need to fret, this ancient tradition has been around a lot longer than the entirety of the United States of America. These hooded figures, called Nazarenos, carry various symbolic relics from the local churches and have their heads covered to represent repentance, humility, and anonymity before God. The height of the capirote hats is supposed to symbolize the proximity to heaven.
If you are wondering why they move so slowly, it's probably because that pasos can weigh upwards of 1,000 kg! That's over 2,200 lbs!!
April 5: Easter Morning Procession
On the morning of Easter Sunday, the procession was much closer to home than we expected! As the procession made its way around the corner, we discovered that the Nazarenos were no longer wearing their hoods & cloaks. We later learned that they are unmasked on Easter Sunday to represent joy, resurrection, and the triumph of life over death.
After another amazing week in Rota, we begin to feel like our time here is truly running short! We have been so lucky to be immersed in an incredible culture and are incredibly thankful for the life we get to live!
Many blessings,
Bryan
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