[Gocamino] Oh, To Be In Sevilla During Semana Santa...

[blaroli at aol.com]

Hello Paul, and everyone.
I´m happy to report that the Camino Friends Associations of both Seville and Granada have completed four more albergues in the Via de la Plata in conjunction with the municipalities wherein they are located,.
As you know, the most significant increase in the number of pilgrims over the past few years has been in the Via... and, in my view, rightly so.  Of note is the fact that the membership of pilgrims in the Associations has almost tripled, and that its members are very active in promoting the Camino as an answer to some national social ills.
Right here, in Seville, some prisoners convicted of rather serious criminal offenses, have been allowed to come out of prison to witness some of the processions as an act of contrition in their way to redemption (or rehabilitation, as we call it). There is a special emphasis in helping young offenders find a ¨New Way¨(Camino Nuevo) through ¨Thre Way¨ (El Camino).
Unfortunately, at least 25 of the 58 processions that take to the streets in Seville during Holy Week have been unable to come out because of heavy rains.  Since the images on the floats were carved hundreds and hundreds of years ago they are both irreplaceable and delicate works of art, and their Confraternities protect them.  But the confraternity members that look forward to taking their images to the people through the heart of Seville in Holy Week are disappointedf and sad.
Because of a special dispensation from the skies, it did not rain last night from midnight to noon, which is the time when the most beloved images come out, such as Jesus del Gran Poder (dating to the thirteenth century) and the Macarena, (dating to the sixteenth Century), to whose Confraternity  I have the honor and the joy to belong.  Those images that come out throughout the night from Holy Thursday to Good Friday commemorate the vigil of that night spent by Jesus between His arrest and the death sentence pronounced at dawn.  Throughout-the-night priocessions take place all over Andalucia and are known os the ¨Madruga¨¨, (short for Madrugada, or Dawn).  The whole of Seville was awash with tens of thousands of people and the break in the weather was almost miraculous.  As soon as the Macarena procession was safely back in its Basilica, after 17 hours in the street, it began to rain all over again!.
 
Well, heart-felt warm wishes for a Joyful Easter to all of you.
 
Hugs!
 
Rosina (from a very wet, yet stunningly lovely Seville)
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: skip at thebrasscannon.com
To: blaroli at aol.com
Sent: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 2:22 PM
Subject: Oh, To Be In Sevilla During Semana Santa...


 
Hello Rosina, 
 
I've been thinking about this week, knowing full well WHERE you are at this very moment. 
 
(And, I wish I were there too!) 
 
Paul 
 
 
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