I had the opportunity some
years back to spend Palm Sunday and Holy Week in Seville. No one does Holy Week like the Spaniards and
Seville is the most famous of the Spanish cities for the marvelous processions
of the pasos depicting scenes from
the Passion and Death of our Savior. The
figures —some centuries old—depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the apostles and
others in the various tableaux are made of wood, wax and wire. They are dressed, for the most part, in
exquisite silks, velvets, and brocades with jeweled ornaments set in gold and
silver. The figures are arranged in
their various scenes on large platforms that are carried by several dozen men
standing beneath the curtained stages on which they are
Each procession—and in
Seville there are eight and nine each day—are sponsored by the various hermandades and confridias (brotherhoods and
confraternities) which plan their processions for the entire year from the
previous Easter. The members of each
brotherhood or confraternity wear their distinctive silk and velvet habits—a
tunic, mantle, and large pointed hood covering the face but with slits for the
eyes. The different confraternities and
brotherhoods are distinguished from one another by the color combinations of
their habits. Each pasos is also accompanied by its own crucifer, 
One would expect all this to
be very moving—and it is—but not in the way intended. As hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to
Seville for the spectacle, it has become something like a weeklong circus
parade. Vendors go up and down alongside
the procession selling ice cream and cold drinks and balloons for the kids. Viewers stand there with hot sandwiches and
beers as the processions pass by. Even
some of the “penitents” lift back their hoods and quaff a quick glass of wine
or, when their procession is done, sit in the cafes, still in their gorgeous
robes, feasting on tapas and
beer. And the churches are
empty!!! I was staying in a monastery
where I have some friends—all services were cancelled for the week. I went to church after church planning where
to go for the Holy Thursday and Good Friday Liturgies only to find out that,
other than in the cathedral, there were no scheduled services. At the suggestion of my priest friends, I
took a train to nearby Jerez de la Frontera and stayed with the friars
there. In Jerez there were the
processions too. Not as many, but five
or six a day. They were just as splendid
with flowers and the silver ornaments and the bands and hooded penitents. But the crowds along the street were dressed
in suits and ties, the women in the traditional high combs holding their
mantillas. They watched in respectful
silence as the various tableaux were carried by. Yes there were people in the cafes and bars—we
all have to eat—but the atmosphere was both serene and profound. The churches were filled for the
When the processions started—centuries
back during the late fifteenth-century reforms of the Church of Spain, they
were genuine acts of piety. The immense
amount of gold and silver ornaments, processional crosses, candelaria,
processional staffs and other accouterments testify to the genuine devotion of
the faithful. But with the increasing
secularization of our culture the soul has been eaten out of so much
devotion. What was once faith is now
often reduced to mere show. The urgency
of a new evangelization is cannot be overstated. 
Fantastic commentary and description of your Spanish experience.
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