The beginning of Semana Santa in Bilbao

Some notes on Semana Santa (Holy Week): In the Catholic tradition (maybe other religions as well), Holy Week is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. The week focuses on remembering and honoring Jesus Christ's final early activities, including his last supper with his apostles, his arrest, death, resurrection and appearance before his friends and apostles. Arguably the most important week in the Catholic liturgical calendar, since it celebrates Christ's redemption of mankind through his death as well as recognizing his divine nature, while Christmas holds the promise of redemption. Anyway, this is how I see it and should be considered official catechism.

On Friday, Beverly, Phyl and I roamed around the Casco Viejo (Old Town), enjoying a menu del día before seeing the Museo de Semana Santa (Holy Week Museum).

cream of vegetable with ham

creamy rice with fish and shrimp

At first, the museum director wanted to turn us away, because he said they were so busy getting ready for the processions that were starting that evening, he couldn't give us a tour. I whined a little bit, batted my eyelashes some, and, smiling, he changed his mind.

We were so happy he did! He explained how each parish in the city has a fraternal organization that organizes the processions or marches which occur daily or sometimes twice daily, during Semana Santa as well as during specific holy days during the year. The oldest fraternity was founded in the 1590's although the other 8 are relative newcomers, founded since 1900. They have their own distinct costumes...

small costumed figures in the museum

and 2 different types of 'floats'; the 'anda' which has 1 figure atop a palanquin or litter, and the 'paso' which has a number of figures arranged in a tableau on top of a litter. All the andas and pasos are stored in the museum so we saw all of them, some in the process of being decorated with flowers.

Originally, the fraternities were exclusively male, but women now play a large part in them. We learned that the parish of San Vicente Martír was hosting the first Holy Week procession that very night as well as a very special procession on Sunday afternoon. The church is right around the corner from the piso. Our local church! Qué suerte!  I knew that Semana Santa in various parts of Spain was considered spectacular and not-to-be-missed, but I hadn't been able to find any information regarding Semana Santa in Bilbao; some people said it was large and elaborate, some said there was hardly any activity at all.

At dusk, we started to heard drums and horns from the street in front of our piso, indicating that the fraternities were marching from their home parishes toward San Vicente. The streets, the plaza in front of the church and the park were full of others hoping to see the procession, so I can't really explain how I found myself in an enviable spot, directly in front of the church's doors and the andas. Usually, I'm craning my neck around some 6 foot 6 inch rotund parade watcher, but not this time.

I still wasn't sure what to expect, but certainly it wasn't the dramatic, mysterious and colorful ritual we found outside the church. Each fraternity marched past my position...well actually, they were marching past the images of Jesus and Mary and I just happened to be there...very solemnly and with great dignity to the beating of drums clapping of wooden blocks and blare of many different types of horns.

Each fraternity had 50-75 costumed figures, so the sheer number was impressive. I found the costumes to be somewhat sinister, but Beverly thought they were more mysterious than sinister. Certainly these costumes pre-date the Klu Kluk Klan in the US. The cone-shaped hats didn't seem to be very comfortable; lots of marchers pulled, tugged or otherwise adjusted them as they marched. But they were very dramatic, great costume designers! Some of the fraternities wore matching shoes: buckled black slip on's, brown sandals, and the occasional penitent in bare feet. Ouch.   

It took about an hour for 8 fraternities to process past the andas. Then it was time for the San Vicente fraternity, Cofrádia de la Pasión, to take the andas out of the church's doorway and carry them along the parade route.

When the final anda passed my station, I had the option to join the crowds and follow them on the procession route, which would end back at the church of San Vicente, but I opted to return to the piso. We could hear the drums and horns as the procession wound around 4 or 6 blocks and then again as each fraternity returned to their home parish. All was quiet by 10:30 or so.