About Spain: April 2009 Archives
Holy Week, or "Semana Santa", in Madrid is more than just watching one procession after another through the streets of Spain's capital. It's truly special - if you can get close enough to admire it. I've already watched the Domingo de Ramos procession last Sunday evening and expect to watch more today/Wednesday/Miercoles Santo, as well as tomorrow's Jueves Santo, then Friday's Viernes Santo, and Saturday's Sábado Santo. There are no processions on Easter Sunday, somewhat surprisingly to me.
The few Spaniards whom choose to stay home for Holy Week and not travel to Andalucia, to "el pueblo", or to travel abroad have a special treat. Not only do they get an eyeful of Spanish religion at its pinnacle but they also enjoy shorter lines at Madrid restaurants, more parking spaces, less traffic, and generally a quieter Madrid.
Semana Santa processions are beautiful and popular among the remaining Spaniards and a few tourists whom are aware of them. Many of these "floats" are some hundreds of years old, made anew each year with special polishing and care, new flowers bought and expertly arranged around the effigies of Virgins and Christs.
These effigies typically sit upon a kind of platform surrounded by flowers and candles, carried on the backs of the faithful whom are usually the sons of those whom had carried the same platform for the previous generation. It's considered a great honor to bear the wait of the several-thousand-pound platforms.
I've seen several processions in Madrid but this city is not known for them - although they are nice. Those in nearby Toledo are particularly pretty. And, of course, those in Sevilla are the best in all of Spain.
Not only does Madrid - and Spain - have wonderful processions, but they also have TORRIJAS! Torrijas are the typical dessert/breakfast/merienda of Semana Santa-Holy Week. Torrijas are generally made by adding slices of bread to milk, egg, lemon, cinnamon, sugar, then frying the bread. It's a complicated process and since I've never made them before I won't profess to know anything about their preparation but here you can find one recipe for torrijas in English. But I sure love to eat them every chance I get because they're generally only available during this Holy Week.
(torrijas are discussed, in Spanish, in this blogspot blog from Pozuelo, Cuenca, Spain)
The few Spaniards whom choose to stay home for Holy Week and not travel to Andalucia, to "el pueblo", or to travel abroad have a special treat. Not only do they get an eyeful of Spanish religion at its pinnacle but they also enjoy shorter lines at Madrid restaurants, more parking spaces, less traffic, and generally a quieter Madrid.
Semana Santa processions are beautiful and popular among the remaining Spaniards and a few tourists whom are aware of them. Many of these "floats" are some hundreds of years old, made anew each year with special polishing and care, new flowers bought and expertly arranged around the effigies of Virgins and Christs.
These effigies typically sit upon a kind of platform surrounded by flowers and candles, carried on the backs of the faithful whom are usually the sons of those whom had carried the same platform for the previous generation. It's considered a great honor to bear the wait of the several-thousand-pound platforms.
I've seen several processions in Madrid but this city is not known for them - although they are nice. Those in nearby Toledo are particularly pretty. And, of course, those in Sevilla are the best in all of Spain.
Not only does Madrid - and Spain - have wonderful processions, but they also have TORRIJAS! Torrijas are the typical dessert/breakfast/merienda of Semana Santa-Holy Week. Torrijas are generally made by adding slices of bread to milk, egg, lemon, cinnamon, sugar, then frying the bread. It's a complicated process and since I've never made them before I won't profess to know anything about their preparation but here you can find one recipe for torrijas in English. But I sure love to eat them every chance I get because they're generally only available during this Holy Week. (torrijas are discussed, in Spanish, in this blogspot blog from Pozuelo, Cuenca, Spain)
I've just returned from watching Madrid's only Palm Sunday (called "Domingo de Ramos") procession of Easter/Holy Week, called Semana Santa in Spain.
Today's procession was called "Procesión del Cristo de la Fe y del Perdón" and was a somewhat simple procession with an 18th Century Christ on a Cross sculpture, led by pointy-hooded navarenos.The Palm Sunday procession started at 7:30pm at the beautiful Basílica Pontificia de San Miguel on Calle San Justo, 4. It was here where the Christ effigy exited the basilica and headed slowly uphill through the crowded Plaza de la Villa (Madrid's one-time City Hall), where I first took up position at the top of the slight incline near the Calle Mayor for a better vantage point.
After the procession crossed Calle Mayor it headed for Plaza de Santiago where I was once again waiting for its arrival. The procession moves so slowly that it's relatively easy to get a head of it.
It was from here at the Plaza de Santiago that I made my way home. It was already nearly dark and I'd already taken nearly 100 photos and had to get home. It was a beautiful late afternoon for a procession; skies were clear and I was comfortable in just my short-sleeved shirt.
Today's Palm Sunday procession was the first of several Holy Week processions in Madrid. More processions take place in Madrid on Holy Wednesday (2 processions), Holy Thursday (5 processions), Holy Friday (8 processions), and the last processions taking place on Holy Saturday (2 processions). There are no Semana Santa processions on Easter Sunday. There are an amazing 18 processions in Madrid for this year's Holy Week.
See http://www.esmadrid.com/semanasanta/procesion.html for Madrid's Holy Week processions, procession routes, and other details. Unfortunately, this page is only available in Spanish.
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