Semana Santa

This upcoming week is semana santa, or Holy Week for Catholics. The children have off from school, and a lot of people go to the beach or on vacations. There are also a lot of processions in the streets and people set up palms around the churches (I´m still not really clear on what this entails, but I´m going to keep an eye out.) I am going to try to get a lot of work done early in the week, and some today and tomorrow since I was sick yesterday.

In the weeks that lead up to Semana Santa, there are processions in different parts of town. The processions represent the hours leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. There is a statue of Jesus, which several people support by carrying a platform on their shoulders. When they are not walking, they sway back and forth and the Jesus statue appears to take on a walking motion. They are followed by a band of horns, maybe drums, and once I saw a keyboard. A lot of people follow behind the statue as well.

The other day, a procession passed by the house. I heard the horns, and I was excited to go outside and watch them pass by. Doña encouraged me to go across the street to take a picture up close. The statue was well crafted and the face of Jesus was strikingly sad.

When the procession continued, a man shouted in English, ¨Come on! Follow! Don´t you want to listen?¨but I was too shy to follow.

Last night, there was a larger procession on a local TV station in which Jesus passes by his mother Mary. This procession was followed by a huge crowd and included a row of firecrackers that were set off down an entire street. I´m not sure where this one took place, but Doña told me it wasn´t in Granada.