On
one Saturday evening we went to the city centre to have tapas when we heard a
familiar tune, Semana Santa music
played by a brass band. The Semana Santa celebrations finished a month ago (read
more about it here) so why were we hearing its music? When we moved closer we
saw a kind of mini-Semana Santa with a mini-cofradía,
the Cruz de Mayo of Seville. When I
saw that there was one organised in our neighbourhood as well, I dragged Paul
along to see it.
The
whole procession was entirely made up of children, including the costaleros. The teenage boys who were
carrying the paso seemed to carry
themselves with the same air of importance as the adults which was quite sweet
to watch.
The children weren’t wearing nazareno outfits but
instead the little girls were dressed in their flamenco costumes, which I found
quite puzzling.
They
carried a smaller version of the candles as well which most of the time served
as a walking stick or was made into a curious version of a wooden horse.
Predictably,
the procession was not very long, lengthwise or ‘distancewise’. Instead of the
solemn behaviour of Semana Santa here
the children looked decidedly … bored.
After
reading about this tradition I discovered that its origins come from two
sources, one from Christianity (the search for the True Cross by St. Helen) and
the other from a pagan tradition (May Day). The fiesta used to be a much bigger
celebration but the above mentioned Semana Santa and the Feria de Abril took it
over in importance and nowadays instead of a whole city affair it is only
organised by neighbourhoods.
Even
though it is not a huge fiesta in Seville itself, in South-America, in Spain in
general and even in other parts of Andalusia it is a well-known tradition. In
flower-loving Córdoba, for example, during the Las Cruces de Mayo the crosses are decorated with flowers and displayed
in courtyards and squares. Naturally, the most beautiful cross wins a prize and
(more importantly) prestige. Of course, true to its Andalusian nature, the
festival is celebrated with lots of eating and dancing.
A
special thank you to Salvador Sibaja Varo for the photos from Córdoba.
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