Holy Week in Seville (Semana Santa de Sevilla) is probably one of the most extraordinary
celebrations in the Christian world, which explains why it attracts
both national and international media attention (see an illustrative
news item) and brings together that many religious people and
unreligious rubbernecks from Spain and abroad: there are estimably
around 3 million people in Seville during that time of the year.
How
come that they have developed such a celebration?
To
start with, the Holy Week processions are prepared and staged by
religious brotherhoods, which are exclusively male. During
these
processions
they carry,
in true unity, huge
images
of
Christ
and
the
Virgin,
called
pasos,
through
the
streets
of
Seville,
the saint's image
being their most important ritual object.
From there, Dutch anthropologist Prof. Dr. Henk Driessen
(University of Nijmegen) points out that the Holy Week in Seville is
above all a high time of male sociability. According to him (see the
references), religious brotherhoods were historically organised along
class lines. American anthropologist Prof. Dr. David D. Gilmore
(Stony Brook University) brings the same to attention: he has also
found that the only people who joined the brotherhoods back then in
the 70s (at the time of his stay in Spain) were members of the wealthiest class (one per cent of the
population of the area studied).
These
days money and status are not even an issue anymore. Men keep
joining the brotherhoods and Seville keeps celebrating Holy Week in
its characteristic way. I asked myself, since when? Now I sort of
know. Musicologists Corinna Kramer and Leo J. Plenckers,
who have
studied saetas,
rhythmically free
flamenco
songs that deal
with
suffering
of
Christ
or
the
grief
of
his
mother
Mary
performed
in
the
religious
processions
held
in
Andalusian towns
during
Holy
Week, argue
that the
tradition
of
singing
saetas
in
front
of
an
image
existed
already
in
the
nineteenth
century,
but
the
tradition
of
carring
images
in
Holy
week
processions
may
be
much
older.
So, it dates back to
centuries.
Example
of a saeta
In
any case, these brotherhoods are activated only once during the year
for Holy Week. Many nazarenos nowadays are not even religious.
They pay their share, practice for the synchronised
movements of the pasos, are there for Holy Week, and that's
more or less it. But it's not by far insignificant as this is the
intensest period imaginable. It's a hell of a contribution to their
brotherhoods, families and society in general. Driessen says that
fireworks, the monotonous rolling of the drums, the excessive
drinking during processions, sleeplessness, the carrying of the heavy
floats through the winding and inclined streets, hoarse competitive
shouts like "Long live Verónica" (those of El Valle),
or "La Soledad is the best" dramatise the atmosphere
of the celebrations. The downside to all this extremity is that the
processions often end in chaos. The men all worn out. But look, it's
highly significant that women are part of the audience, proudly
watching their husbands, fathers, sons, brothers and fiancés act out
their masculine role. It's a men's thing, unquestionably.
Men
start acting an expected role when being very young. They go to
football practice for not being considered gays by others. They join
adult men with 5 years or less only, wearing a super cute mini
version of nazareno's robe for participating in processions.
Nazareno
boy of San Gonzalo,
image taken from here
They
have to be sociable, witty and amusing, with gracia (funny, with
ease). Cachondeo, a particular type of joking, is very popular
among Andalusian men, most seen in the streets, bars and cafés. The
initiator of the joke tries to get a rise out of his victim. It is
important for the victim to keep his face, withstand the jest, and
strike back in a cool manner. They then stop at nothing in making an
out of line joke (broma pesa). A man who looses his temper is
despised by the audience. It doesn't have much to do with Semana Santa, but with being a man in Seville. It's all the same in the end. All about social norms.
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