[Gocamino] Commitment. Holy Week "controversy"

[Rosina]

Well….. It’s over!

And a Grand Holy Week it was!

Can’t wait ‘til next year.

 And here and now I want to tell you that anyone in these list servs who makes it to Seville next Holy Week can count on me to get him/her close to the processions (not an easy task with half a million on-lookers and very narrow streets).

There’s nothing anywhere like Seville. It is the literary, musical, artistic, political and religious center of fabulous Spain and it has been so forever. The very orange-and-lemon- blossoms’ air imparts waves of heart, soul and mind inspiration…. And Holy Week is the fantastic realization of such forces.

Months and months before Holy Week there is a literary contest for the “Pregon”, a book-length poem that expresses the spiritual and emotional mission of the Holy Week to be. The winner of the contest (“pregonero”) reads the “Pregon” throughout the city, and on radio and TV, for weeks before Holy Week. (The “Pregon” is also published in pamphlet form and it is much coveted by Sevillians).  

-The dedication of this year’s observances to Santiago pilgrims, and their profound meaning, is part of the “Pregon”-

And…… no, Sevillians don’t bid , or pay for, the privilege of taking part in the processions. One must be a member of a Confraternity, however, and that is the only cost.  The membership fees in the Macarena confraternity seem to vary every year and they are about 30 Euros per year. Members, also, must commit to one hour per week of community service. And, truly, I’ve seen many a duke or a count spoon-feeding very sick people in hospitals, and duchesses and countesses bathing babies in the public “guarderias” (nurseries for poor families).

Those of us who do not live in Spain need  perform only 27 hours per year of community service.  This is easy for me since my parish, Our Lady of Pompeii in Greenwich Village, New York City, serves free lunches every day of the week, has free legal clinics and school-tutoring services, etc. etc., so that one has abundant opportunities to comply with the community service requirements.

There is so very much to say about the Macarena, its history, its confraternity martyrs, and its artistic wonders that to do so can only be done in a separate message.

Meanwhile, to bid farewell to this extraordinary celebrations, I should like to tell you about a bit of a “polemic” (Spanish lively argumentation)  related to Holy Week making the animated rounds of Sevillians’ opinions:

The last of the  processions that come out in the “Madruga” (night preceding and dawn of Good Friday) is the confraternity of the Gitanos (gypsies); it is a rather poor confraternity with a parish at the outskirts of the city, and it has the misfortune (or fortune) of following such super galactic processions as Gran Poder, Triana and, of course, the Macarena.  By the time that the Gitanos procession approaches the Cathedral the Macarena and Triana people have left to follow their own processions back to their home parishes (with the anticipation throughout of exploding outpourings of rose petal showers,  “saetas”,  and adorned house-fronts such as can be seen nowhere else).  Perhaps because of their tail-end position, the “Gitanos” confraternity tries harder and they do a very commendable job.  This year they wrote some music to accompany their Jesus “paso” (float), which they call “Senor de la Salud  (Lord of Health….. there’s a story behind it, to be recounted another time). 

Well, my dears, there is a huge outcry to the effect that the music is too “flamenca” and way out of place. Fortunately, the  music in contention  can be heard here.

I think the march is absolutely lovely and beautiful….. and, for crying out loud, if gypsies cannot compose “flamenco” music, who can?  (And for their own images, yet!).

Well….. you be the judge.

Go to the site below….. press on the second M and then on the icon for “Los Gitanos, Senor de la Salud”.

And my commitment at the beginning of this message is in deep earnest:  if you make it to Seville next Holy Week I’ll get you close, very close, to the processions.

Hugs!

Rosina

ps. Yes...... there is some wonderful Holy Week music outside of Seville; most notably Rossini's Stabat Mater, particularly the version with Minton and Pavarotti (his favorite recorded work, he said).  Kat and Dave: expect a copy by mail next week!






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