(Please be aware as this blog post may contain pictures that may cause distress)
Hola chicos y chicas,
Nonetheless, I came here to tell you about one of the most exciting weeks in Seville. Semana Santa (Holy week). Seville is known for its celebration of the Semana Santa because of the breath-taking processions and the streets filled with tourists and locals that came to see their “Virgen”. This is how it works, every church has its virgin and the older churches also have a brotherhood. So they come out and walk around Seville for hours with a statue of their virgin and one from Jesus’ path to crucifixion. They also have the ‘nazarenos’ which can be mistaken by Ku Klux Klan because of their outfits, however their outfits have a different meaning, like they are different (so calm down). In the past they used to wear the overall and the hats to hide their identity as they were ashamed of their sins and they did not want to be labelled as penitents. If you look closer you can see that the outfits are different.
(Please don’t ask me the same thing that my brother asked me, “Ana, OMG no one was arrested?”)
As you can see it is part of their tradition as even young children take part and get dressed as nazarenos. Some of them walk with no shoes or socks for long hours. They do that as a sign of respect and love for their church. I overheard a girl, tell her friend that she was there with her family supporting her sister that joined the procession at 11:30 am and will finish at 04:00 am. (That is love and commitment).
I know it can be scary and it can be misunderstood if you are not aware of the culture. Therefore, you should read about your host country’s culture before you move and have an open mind when you get there. Obviously, you are not going to find a culture similar to the British culture, it may be the total opposite.
You can find more pictures of the Semana Santa below, I only have pictures of the second day because I ran away on Wednesday. As you can imagine, there are a lot of people in the streets during the processions which made my life really difficult.

This are the men that carry the Virgen throughout the procession. They rehearse throughout the year.