Category: Semana Santa

Semana Santa

Post by Charlie: Holy week. This was our bane when we were planning the trip because things were full and prices higher. We were thinking about going to Granada after Toledo but Granada is packed and expensive during Semana Santa so we went east where we we thinking they were less devout.

But it has turned out to be very nice. We have enjoyed the processions and going to Palm Sunday services. So on Easter, we thought we would go to Easter services. We showed up at the big cathedral around 10:30 for the service at 11 and no one was around. We had coffee at the “Arc” which our guidebook said is the only cafe in Girona with a cathedral on its terrace (photo below). We didn’t see many people going in but went up again a few minutes before 11. There was a service but it was not as well-attended as I would have expected for such a large cathedral, maybe 150 people were there and another 100 straggled in as it went on.

On Palm Sunday we were standing around the edges and moving around the big cathedral but this time we went and sat in the pews like I used to do on Sundays back in Duluth. They didn’t stint on the priests though, they had three alter-boys, five priests and the bishop (or possibly arch-bishop, I guess I could google it but what does it matter?) He had the golden bishop’s hat and a big scepter and looked good. He seemed a little friendlier than the archbishop of Toledo who had kind of a severe look about him. Maybe he was practicing for his portrait in the cathedral when he retired.

They had a lot of incense and were swinging it around all the time creating clouds of smoke that made me think of the smoke machines they use on Dancing with the Stars. They started by all proceeding up the aisle and it was pretty impressive. Then in the middle they all went down the aisle and the bishop was using the wand-like thing they use to sprinkle holy water on the people. People who grew up Catholic will remember these. As he was coming by and sprinkling I was thinking of the Buffy episode where she tricked the crazy vampire into drinking holy water when her Slayer powers had been temporarily lost due to Giles’ magic crystal (in a Slayer competency test, long story). I thought of the wonderful mish-mash that is our popular culture. Josh Whedon, the Catholic Church, they are all in the business of telling a good story, and they are all very good at it.

So we enjoyed the service both weeks. Maybe I’ll join those people who convert or go back to Catholicism in later life: Tony Blair, Newt Gingrich, Anne Rice,… But then Anne Rice converted back out again, I have to say I have respect for her following her beliefs.

But these were definitely the largest churches I have ever attended services at. The Girona one has the longest nave in Europe and it, like all the cathedrals is really, really tall. There was a lot of “my church is bigger, taller, wider than your church” going on over the centuries. But the result is some very cool looking churches.

 

Parade Rerouted

Post by Charlie: On Good Friday there was a parade at 7:30pm and a procession at 10pm. We missed the later one but we went to the parade. We had a map of the route from the tourist office. We got there a few minutes late and it seemed they were going the wrong direction. Then they looped around and we thought they would just reverse the route but then they switched again and they stopped for 10 minutes and there was a lot of back and forth conversing. We suspect that they messed up the route and were not sure how to correct it. It is hard to turn a long parade. There were barricades and people along the other route where they should have been. Finally they just decided to go with the mistake.

First came the romans on horses, note that the cafe patrons had a great view.

Then the drummers and pipers, then the Roman soldiers:

Then the people in pointed hats and robes

Processions in Toledo

Post by Wynette: In addition to the Palm Sunday procession that Charlie wrote about earlier, we saw two other semana santa (holy week) processions.  For all 3, we more or less just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

For the first, below, we were sitting on the main plaza having coffee and noticed lots of people and said “wow, people sure like to hang out on this plaza”.  Then we heard a band and saw a float with Jesus riding the donkey into Jerusalem.

Following the float was a marching band.  They were good.  Incredible trumpet playing.  Even though the songs weren’t exactly spanish songs, they sounded so spanish with the trumpet.  I was quite moved by it.

Then, our last night inToledo (April 2), as we were heading back from the restaurant to our hotel, we saw crowds lining up along one of the main streets, so we found a spot and waited for another procession.  Another float with Jesus, and, I think, the same wonderful band we heard before. That’s the top of Toledo’s stunning cathedral behind the float.

Notice that several people, in hoods, are carrying this one.  The first one, of Jesus on the donkey, was on a wagon that was pulled along by a single man.  We were amazed he could do that.

 

Charlie and Wynette go to Palm Sunday Mass

My Catholic boyhood is coming in handy. We got up, in Toledo, on Palm Sunday and I was saying to Wynette on Palm Sunday back in Duluth MN we would get these palm leaves and we would parade (process?) around the the church holding the palms. I guessed that since the Spanish seem to favor religious processions they would do that on Palm Sunday too.

We lucked out and got down to the big cathedral just as they were gathering outside. We waited along the street (a very small street) and about 10 minutes later they were parading past us. First the young boys, singing:

then the choir

then the older guys.

Holy cow! It’s the Archbishop of Toledo! They’re bringing out the big guns (or canons).

And how about those palm fronds? Back in Minnesota we had these little wimpy things but there we were far from where palms grow. I never thought about it but I guess the church had to order them months in advance and there are companies that supply palm fronds to churches all around the US.

Next came the guys with the really cools outfits:

Mixed with what seems to be people from the congregation:

including 4 or 5 women in black outfits and with small black clutch purses (which we didn’t get a photo of).

Okay, it’s over so we just fell in behind. No need to be shy. We didn’t have palms but we had some olive branches that they had provided for the crowd (you can see the bystanders holding them in the above photo). We marched right around and into the church and the service continued. There was a choir in one end of the church that was singing as we came in and then the “real” choir in the fancy choir section that we had seen the day before on the church tour. Then I never even gave a thought that a real choir might be in there singing.

The choir area is opposite the high alter which in pretty fancy:

They had a bunch of large monitors around so you could see what was happening. There must have been 4 or 5 cameras, maybe more, since they showed the high alter, the choir, both from a couple of angles and other views also. So there must have been a director somewhere in a control room deciding which camera feed to show at any time, “Cut to the choir”, “Now the congregation”, “Now the high alter”, “Zoom in on the chalice”, etc.

The video shows the priest who is reading the pulpit, and here’s the archbishop on video:

And then the part I remember so well from my boyhood, where the communion is over and you know there is only five or ten minutes to go and you are ready for it to be over. This little girls needed to move around a little during that time:

The choirs and the organ were magnificent. The acoustics in the church was very, very good. It was a bit long, as it always is, but we enjoyed it.