Semana Santa is celebrated at some time in March or April, depending on the liturgical calendar. The custom of bringing the saint’s images out of the churches for a street procession dates back to the Middle Ages. The origin of the Cofradías or Brotherhoods, groups worshipping a given saintly image, can often be traced back to the city’s guilds; others take the name of a specific image and yet others the district where they were born. Many brotherhoods undertake over one hundred street processions each year. A costalero might be asked to carry a weight of about seventy kilos on his shoulders during a procession, which may sometimes last for twenty hours. In Seville the processions are not just a trek through the streets; many of them have to be carried out in a ritual way (dancing, for example), representing a huge effort for the costalero. Furthermore the cofradías also perform their “Estación de Penitencia”, i.e.. they take their images on procession regardless of what they represent or the day or week of the outing, but rather following an order bound up with their antiquity, route and timetable. One of the most emotional moments in any Seville procession is when the images emerge from and return to their respective churches. During the entrance the throats of thousand of anonymous singers swell with spontaneous “saetas” (the religious form of flamenco singing) to celebrate the passing of the image. Some of the brotherhoods with most renown are the following; Los Estudiantes and La Santa Cruz, which take to the streets on Holy Tuesday; El Baratillo, which does so on Holy Wednesday; Los Negritos and Las Cigarreras, on Holy Thursday; El Gran Poder, La Esperanza Macarena, La Esperanza de Triana, Los Gitanos and El Cachorro, on Good Friday; and Los Servitas, La Trinidad, El Santo Entierro and La Soledad de San Lorenzo, which come out on Holy Saturday.

One of the most magical moments of Semana Santa is La Madrugá, from midnight on Holy Thursday to the afternoon of Good Friday. On this night the most widely admired brotherhoods perform their Estación de Penitencia: El Silencio, one of Seville’s oldest, imbued with mysterious sobriety; the Gran Poder, bearing their heavy cross on their shoulders; the Esperanza Macarena, one of the most eagerly awaited ones; El Calvario, austere, tenebrous, enveloped in a pain of thorns and blood; Esperanza de Triana, the virgin who sailed up the river to become a queen of Seville; and finally the Cofradía de Los Gitanos.

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