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Sight: The
Fraternities Circles
As I have already commented in my
introduction, the whole year is good for
Seville to remember the visitor which is
its Holy Week which is its devotion and
its religion, over cults, overcoming
beliefs. Throughout the whole year, it
is easy to listen in any corner of the
city to the sounds of the bugles and
drums of the bands testing for what will
be the Week of Passion.
Equally, the confreres re-join in
gatherings where to speak and to
celebrate commemorative acts of the
Passion, Death and Christ's Resurrection.
These gatherings receive names related
to the processions of Holy Week: " La
Bambalina", "El Pabilo (The Wick)" or
the name of the typical bar where they
re-join, since " The Rinconcillo ", but
we can get the one previously named as a
sign of this different way of
understanding the fraternities" in our
land.
Hearing: Golden Letters with Magic
Sounds
As prelude to the great event, Seville
gets ready intensely to revive every
year its Holy Week, perhaps the main act
the Speech that is carried out in the
Maestranza Theatre open those seven
crucial days for the capital of
Andalusia. Words and poetry that lift
the body hair in the skin and arise the
anguish in the soul.
And who have not ever heard to speak
about the "Saeta", that pain and cry
mixture that grows from the silence,
having flamenco as its father and poetry
as his mother. Deep song of cult that
the sevillian knows how to respect and
to listen with sublime consideration,
act that has its highest relevance in
the "Saeta's Exaltation" that takes
place every year in the Salvador Church,
the other Cathedral of this city of
Maria.
Essential things in the Holy Week are
the Bands of bugles and drums and, of
course, The Music Bands. The first ones
go with the Christ's pasos and they
preceding to the "Cruz de Guía" and the
seconds ones go with the Virgin Maria
and her grief.
"Réquiem", "Amos de Madre", "Amargura",
“La Madrugá”, "Esperanza Trianera" and
"Roció" are some of the musical topics
that go through our ears while we try to
control those tears of emotion whith are
born in favour of a good "chicota" or of
that beautiful "mecida" that the
"costaleros" give to the Mother of God.
But Seville also has its sacred music.
Sobriety and Seriousness creating pain
notes and mercy toward Christ with the
chapel music, or in the concert that is
made glory in the Miserere of Eslava to
take place in the Cathedral in previous
days to the Holy Week. "Tos por igual
valientes... ¡A esta es!" (All equally
brave... To this it´s!), and after a
sudden blow of llamador, the float rises
to the sky.
They are the Capataz words giving
commands to the "costaleros" to start
the walking of the float, as well as
with "¡Ahí Queó!" (There it was!)
indicates them the end of the same one.
To conclude, the sound of the alpargatas
of the costaleros, beautiful rhythm that
is created while the float is moving
forward and that, in the silence emerged
from the people's faith sounds to
celestial music, as well as the voice of
the people acclaiming their virgins when
going by their fraternity, fact that, in
some occasions can touch rudeness.
And if you have the bad luck of falling
sick in your visit to this great
sevillian event, don't worry, the local
televisions and the radio will inform
you on time about the exits, entrances
and official route of the fraternities,
without uproars, without hurries,
although I assure you that it doesn't
have anything to do with the reality of
the moment, with the experience of
feeling the fraternity in direct.
Touch: To handle God.
It is curious but, one of their main
purposes of the visitor, is to touch the
images, this fact can be considered
almost a challenge. What they don't know
is that it is impossible. We go step by
step; it is impossible to touch the
images when they are on their Floats,
but all the fraternities carry out
previous to the Holy Week Triduos,
Quinarios, etc. in which they put their
images in "besapiés or besamanos", only
true moment in which we can touch the
images.
One very particular act is to touch the
respiraderos of the floats when it is
stopped or passing next to us, although
in fact what should be made is to be
crossed since is not allowed to touch
the floats, although reality is very
different.
Another it forms of activating this
sense it is the wax that comes off the
cirios carried by the nazarenos. It can
be very curious the cortege of children
that come closer to the nazarenos to
request them some wax, which they
accumulate little by little, until
forming a great ball.
Anyway this fact becomes the true
penance for the nazareno, since the
pursuit of some of these children (and
not so), can irritate to the most quiet
person, mainly in the tract of the
official route. The opposite side, is
the smile that the children show when
they receive a candy from the nazarenos.
Taste: The Snack Bars about the
fraternities.
With the same name of the flower
"Azahar", we find in Saint Julian
quarter one of the first cofrades bars
that, together with a good appetizer, an
icy beer, incense scent and cofrades
sounds, submerges us during the whole
year in that characteristic atmosphere
that turns our city into a Via-Crucis of
constant illusion.
But, the same as this, other cofrades
names give life to a great number of
bars, where the talks and the wisdom is
mixer with the fraternities´ pictures,
with the images, and with typical foods
of the town, significant museums of the
Holy Week of Seville...
And we find the "Albores", in Palma del
Río street in Pio XII´s quarter, "La
Madrugá" in San Hermenegildo quarter,
"El Pabilo", "La Bambalina", and a lot
more, but reference you can visit these
ones and to check yourselves why names
of bars related with the Holy Week
appear.
Note:
As an atypical reference in this section,
I will include a bar that, although it
does not seem cofrade at the first sight,
it is a crucial point of visit for all
the people that is near Santa Catalina's
Church. I refer to El Rinconcillo's Bar
(also it´s a restaurant), located
between Gerona street and Los Terceros
square. We recommend you to taste its
spinaches or its "pavias" while you see
to leave the temple or to arrive the
Fraternity of the Exaltación, known by
"Los Caballos" and that marches past on
Good Thursday.
Smell: Orange Blossom Fragrance
We move through the time at the
beginning of march. The orange trees
start to show those white tones that
shortly will give form to the Orange
blossom, perfuming the sevillian streets
with that characteristic fragrance that
makes it different, that warns the
spring cannot wait any more, that soon..
very soon, God will travel Seville,
accompanied by its town.
This time we choose the month of June
and we go for a walk for the historical
downtown, taking as starting point the
Encarnacion Square and walking Puente y
Pellón down street addressing to the
Salvador Square.
Exactly between these two points we can
find Cordoba street, which has an exotic
fragrance that invades the air and
delights the soul, a scent to Church, to
sanctity...
It's the incense that is sold in small
travelling stands, fragrance that
belongs to the biggest Temple erected
for Christ and known by "Seville",
Maria's land, mixture of essences coming
from east that goes before the floats in
the Holy Week and that, just in this
sevillian street, we can enjoy during
the whole year, essence that arises from
the insencers with the same form that
the Cartuja's Monastery and that confers
grace to the pills of incandescent coal.
Maybe you, in their particular external
vision of the passion, you don't
understand the relationship between the
scent ant the devotion, but if you are
planning to visit us in Holy Week, you
will be able to understand the great
relationship and the reciprocity among
these terms, feelings and senses as one.
Vocabulary
Saeta: A short flamenco folk song.
Cruz de Guía: A Cross which opens the
procession.
Chicotá: The stetch of the route covered
by a float from the time the capataz
gives the order to raise the float until
it stops again.
Mecida: Particular move of the float to
the rhythm of the music.
Costaleros: Men who carries the floats.
Llamador: Piece at the front of the
float to give the signal to raise or
lower the float.
Capataz: Man at the head of the float
who give the orders to the costaleros.
Alpargatas: Rope-soled sandal.
Triduos/Quinarios: Religious acts carry
out in the Fraternities in commemoration
of Christ and the Virgin
Besapies/besamanos: To kiss the feet or
the hands of the images like act of
faith.
Respiraderos: Breathers. Lateral parts
of the floats.
Cirios: Candles carries by the
nazarenos.
Nazarenos: Members of the fraternities
which make up the procession.
Azahar: Orange Blossom.
Pavias: Hake or codfish fried.
Los Caballos: The Horses Fraternity
(popular name).
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