Have greens will travel

Semana Santa, the week leading up to easter, during which the christian brotherhoods of Seville show their devotion to god by parading through the streets, dressed in robes and conical hoods, carrying elaborate pasos (floats) with images of the Virgin or Christ.

Having retired to my flat on Thursday night, I figured I'd seen my last procession of Holy Week. I was prompted to get up & look out my window by the sound of drums echoing down the street. From my balcony, I could see crowds lining both sides of the street and a number of nazarenos (members of a brotherhood) standing in the middle. I darted back into my room to pick up my camera, thinking that this would be a great opportunity to get some shots from my elevated position.

As the processional music became even louder and the nazarenos began to fill the street, their giant paso came into view. I snapped away with my camera as the paso swayed from side to side, while the nazarenos carrying the float shuffled their feet below. As the paso was carried down the street and out of view. I kept snapping away as the the processional band slowly marched past. Reviewing the pictures that I’d taken, many of them were nothing more than a series of blurs.

The crowds lining the street began to disperse as they moved further up the street to catch more of the procession. As I looked down on the street, I noticed some of the nazarenos at the rear of the procession carrying cirios (long candles). I could see a boy approaching some of the nazarenos, cradling something in his hands. He spoke to one of the nazarenos who spoke to another and as the child lifted his hands, the nazarenos dipped their cirios towards the child. I zoomed in with my camera and could see that the child was holding a small glass bowl. I took several shots before reviewing my photos, one of which captured the moment when the candles met the child’s bowl.

Looking at the shot I remembered a story that one of my Sevillano friends told me about her childhood. She told me that as children, many schools have a competition to see which student can collect the most wax from the nazarenos’ candles during Semana Santa. Each student would bring in their bowls the week after Semana Santa and the teacher would judge the winner from the class. There were no prizes on offer, only a matter of pride. I can’t say whether the child from the photograph won his class competition, but in this moment, he became part of a story connecting generations of Sevillanos.