Seville, Spain, Apr 17, 2025 /
13:01 pm
The Holy Week processions in the Andalusian capital are one of Spain’s most iconic traditions. Every year, members of the confraternities or brotherhoods prepare fervently to be part of this eagerly awaited event, a genuine manifestation of popular piety.
Confraternities and brotherhoods are religious associations that organize the processions and carry the floats on their shoulders.
Renowned worldwide, their images file through the city during Holy Week to the accompaniment of “saetas” (devotional songs) and marching bands. And it only takes a second, that fleeting instant when the gaze of the Virgin or the crucified Christ meets yours, to understand the mystery of our faith.
Following the Holy Week processions in Seville is no easy task. Each step, with their route to the imposing cathedral, turns the map of the city’s historic center into a sort of timed puzzle.
The faithful and tourists navigate the labyrinthine, decorated streets to experience firsthand the spectacle where art and the purest popular devotion converge. As José María Pemán, a native of Cádiz, aptly wrote, during Holy Week, Seville “prays with art.”
Turning to the sound of drums or the canopy, enveloped in incense, swaying to the rhythm of the bell ringers are like small flashes of light that illuminate the soul and invite, in a special way, to reflect on the sacrifice the Son of God made to redeem us.
The crowd raises its gaze as it throngs with heavy hearts and silent tears to the procession, with great respect for the Nazarenes (penitents) who, with their candles, precede the float borne up by a team of men.
The little ones look for their parents among the penitents carrying the cross, while they listen in the distance to the float foreman’s instructions, capturing in their minds the first memories of the best of inheritances.
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Every gesture, every float, every instruction is carefully planned, with an almost artisanal precision, just as the golden threads are intertwined in the Virgin’s cloak.
It is a precision that is only threatened by the rain, the only impediment the floats encounter on their route.
The pageantry unfolds with the saeta (devotional song) dedicated to the Virgin of Peace as her image passes through Plaza de España (Spain Square) on Palm Sunday, the swaying of the San Gonzalo confraternity’s float in the Triana neighborhood, the mystery portrayed by the Confraternity of Bitterness in front of the convent of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the solemnity of Jesus of the Passion on Holy Thursday, and the gestures of reverence toward the Virgin of Hope of Macarena during the “Madrugá” (the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday).
Each image has its own story and evokes in those fortunate enough to witness it the vivid memory of the passion of Christ, who no longer walks alone.
The wonder is shared and is felt by both the members of the brotherhoods who have grown up under the protection of these images and the tourists who stumble upon them by chance.
Seville, with its brotherhoods, Nazarenes, and saetas, makes the drama of Calvary come alive every Holy Week, as if each procession shouted to the world that Christ is not alone — and neither is his mother.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú is Rome correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN.
