This weekend started off beautifully and ended beautifully. Pablo was off to Belgium to visit his girlfriend for the weekend. Being the gentleman that he is, he had asked me to teach him to prepare a recipe that he could cook for her upon his arrival. I could go on and on with funny anecdotes about this and how it went down, but unfortunitely I lack the time and space. To sum it up, Pablo was a natural in the kitchen and our experiment went very well! I had went to the market and gathered the ingredients to make a pesto. When I arrived back home, everyone in the house was awaiting my arrival. Alejandro started grating cheese, Monica slicing and sauting baby Bella’s, Marta assisting Alejandro with his cheese…All while Pablo jumped from one action to another, ensuring that he would be well prepared. We had a blast and than all sat down to have dinner together.
Meanwhile, Edgar has had some sort of a side project going on on the back terrace. It looks like he is building a tool shed of sorts. Edgar is Gloria’s cousin and a super nice man that has showed me nothing but kindness since the day I arrived. Edgar speaks little English and well, my Spanish is definitely under construction. Gloria had officially retired from her job on Friday and so we all gathered for an afternoon torta and cafe to celebrate. Somehow Edgar and I started talking about the procesions and he proceeds to tell me that one was taking place tomorrow (Saturday) at the Catherdal. As soon as I heard this, I immediately canceled my plans to go to Córdoba. That settled it-I was staying in Seville again this weekend, and with joy!!
As it turns out Sevilla is the most Catholic city in Spain and Edgar proceeds to tell me that there are over 345 Virgins!! If I could explain to you what this means-I would, but I haven’t a clue. And, I have been trying to get to the bottom of the entire subject of ‘procesions’ since last Saturday. I can however tell you that Maria Santisima, the Virgin of Hope of Macarena, is a 17th century wooden image of the blessed Virgin Mary and is regarded with high respect here in Sevilla. And, I think, she is the sole purpose of the procesion that is going to take place. Apparently, she must be moved from the Cathedral to a church in Marcarena. Edgar explains to me that she is scheduled to leave the church at 6:00 and that I must arrive a bit early to get my spot. I am very grateful for this information. (And, Alejandro, I now know where Macarena is). Edger patiently answers all of my questions and I learn that the “float” that the Virgin rests upon is called a ‘Paso’ and that it takes sometimes over a hundred men to carry it. These men spend years on a wait list for this honor. These man are called ‘Costalero’s.
The Costalero’s wrap turban’s around their heads and balance the wooden rods on the back of their lower necks. After 24 hours of this, they obviously develop welts from the friction. And, just how the Costalero’s carry the paso is completely different depending on the region in Andulucia. This stance is exclusive to Sevilla.
Fast forward to the big day. I go to meet Alfonso for lunch to practice my Espanol and enjoy some tapas and than we head over to the Cathedral. We arrived just in time to see the paso “jump” as the men lower it and this is a breath taking experience in and of itself. The music is loud and beautiful and best of all, I am so close to her that I can almost touch it. This would never happen during Holy Week. Now Alfonso, being born and raised in Sevilla, knows everyone and we stop to say hello to his lovely friend Ester. Ester is a Sevilliana and is very funny and is apparently disgusted with this tradition and procesion nonsense. She has me laughing in stitches as she tells me that “the north of Spain makes fun of them and refuses to take the south serious”. She than blurts out “well at least we are evolving and we are no longer throwing goats from the tower”!! WHAT?! Did Ester just say they throw goats from the tower?
Not anymore! Yes, this tradition was banned in 2002. Prior to abolishment of this act, a group of men would throw a live goat from the top of the church on the 4th Sunday of January. These Sevilliano’s….
I have been here now for exactly four weeks and have yet to visit the famous ‘Las Setas de la Encarnacion’, the ‘Incarnacions Mushrooms’. This is a large wooden structure in the old quarter of Sevilla that was completed in 2011. The architecture doesn’t match the rest of its surrounding areas, as you can imagine. However, these mushrooms sure do attract a lot of attention! Oh and in the midst of the construction, Roman ruins were found and the construction than froze for 14 years while they investigated! Jeez-I thought it took Florida along time to complete a project!
And now back to more procesions!! They continue throughout the entire night walking the streets of Sevilla. Simply amazing.
We topped off the night with some more tapas and called it quits around 2:00. The streets were still packed and this considered to be an early night.
And, in all the commotion this weekend MaryCarmen had arrived. MaryCarmen is drop dead gorgeous and joins us from Mexico to work on her thesis. She is writing her thesis on ‘Legumbres’. I mean, did I hit the jackpot or what? And, did I tell you that Monica traveled from China with her rice machine stashed in her luggage? These are my kind of people!!
jamiessevillaexperience 