Why Everyone Needs to Visit Sevilla for Semana Santa

Holy Week is THE week to come visit Sevilla (unless it's raining, like this year).

This week is Semana Santa here in Sevilla. It’s a religious celebration, but it has really turned into more of a cultural phenomenon. Most of my friends who love Semana Santa aren’t necessarily religious, myself included. Although those who participate in the actual processions certainly are deeply Catholic. Regardless of your beliefs, watching the processions move throughout the city center, with a live band, hundreds of participants marching in the processions, and hundreds of spectators crowding around the procession and filling the small streets, is unlike anything else you’ve experienced before.

What is Semana Santa?

Semana Santa is a week long event of 70+ processions that take place all throughout the city center. It’s always the week leading up to Easter, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, although the first processions start as early as the Friday before Palm Sunday. These processions are unreal displays of beautiful pasos (floats, although to use that word feels offensive to what these magnificent structures actually look like). The paso weighs anywhere from 4,000 - 10,000 pounds and there are anywhere from 20 - 40 people underneath the paso carrying it. These people are called costaleros and it’s a pretty big deal to be one of them. They wear these funny padded hats to protect their neck as they carry these immense floats. Those carrying the paso actually walk in a specific fashion to make it look like the characters on the float are walking themselves. This gives the pasos an eerily life-like feel. There is also a main leader, the capataz, announcing instructions to the costaleros since they are unable to see underneath the weight of the paso.

The other day we watched a procession from a tapas bar that had a front row view to a paso and there were 2 costaleros who snuck in to have a beer on their short break. We asked them how long they had been carrying the paso, “2 hours and 4 more to go” they replied. They handed us a card from their hermandad with a picture of the Virgin Mary.

How does Semana Santa work?

There are over one hundred churches in Sevilla and they all have hermandades which are essentially social groups linked to each individual church. Being a part of an hermandad is a big deal in Sevilla, a real honor for a true Sevillano.

What every person in an hermandad lives for is Semana Santa. This is the one moment of the year where the hermandad takes out their pasos. Most processions have 2 pasos, one that depicts a scene from the Passion of Jesus and another that’s the Virgin Mary. The whole concept is that they take the paso out of their church and around the city, to the main Cathedral, they pass through the Cathedral and then head back to their own church. These processions can last anywhere from a few hours to 14 hours.

In Sevilla you’ll find people prepping for Semana Santa all year long. Whether it’s the musicians practicing as you walk by a local music school, or the costaleros carrying around a big giant wooden board with weights to imitate the weight of the paso as you walk to your favorite tapas spot on a random Wednesday in September. Sevilla lives and breathes Semana Santa all year, slowly building the anticipation until the week arrives. The excitement is palpable. There’s even a local bar in Sevilla that has a chalkboard with a daily countdown to Semana Santa.

Reflections on Semana Santa in Sevilla

Part of what I love about Semana Santa in Sevilla is that the city virtually shuts down for the week. If you’re lucky enough to work for a company in Sevilla or go to school in Sevilla then you likely have the whole week off or at least Thursday and Friday off. Those who do work rush to get off around lunch time or earlier in the day so they can attend the processions in the afternoon and evenings. Even the biggest shops like Zara and Mango close for the full week. The processions pass right by their front door and I can guarantee you that no local is bothered to be shopping when there are pasos to be seen.

In true Andalusian fashion, Semana Santa is a huge social affair. Whether you form part of the hermandad or are just meeting up with friends to watch a paso, everything about Semana Santa is a group event. Each year I’ll meet up with friends at least a few days to watch pasos, whether “down on the ground” right in front of the paso, or from up above on a terrace of a lucky friend who happens to live on a street that’s on the paso route. Keep in mind when you watch the pasos from the street, people will get there 2-3 hours early just to make sure they get a good spot. And if you have an errand to run in the city center? Forget about it. The streets are so crowded that you literally have to detour to streets that can double the time it takes you to get to your destination.

Sadly this week it has rained almost every day so most of the processions have been cancelled. The pasos are incredibly expensive and are very precious to each hermandad. Some pasos are hundreds of years old and feature real gold detailing, expensive clothing, etc. Taking them out in the rain would ruin them. There is no choice but to cancel the procession entirely and wait again until next year.

The fact that so many pasos have been cancelled has been a hot topic of conversation everywhere. I just got back from the grocery store and the people in line were talking about which processions had been cancelled and that one had in fact happened today before it started to rain. I love these small talk moments in Sevilla. Locals are always gossiping about the latest events, whether it’s an upcoming event, an event happening right now, or an event that happened last week.

On Monday, one of the days we were fortunate enough to have good weather, I fell asleep to the sound of a live band playing classic Semana Santa music from a procession in the center. We live quite close to the main center and so the music carried through our open window. I was enveloped by familiarity as the sound triggered memories from all the years prior of Semana Santa. It’s a familiarity that comes from living in a place so long and knowing it deeply, and feeling a part of it.