[Gocamino] Semana Santa

[Rosina]

Hello you all,
Holy Week in Seville cannot ever be encompassed in mere words. It simply transcends the educated sounds that compose verbal communication. Some things can only be felt by one's five senses.... like the taste of sugar.... and the "you know what", and quite a few others.
The incredible music, the overwhelming crowds, the emotions spilling out above, beneath and all around,  the hearts exposed, the eyes brimming, the inner depths of selfhood reclaiming their place in life  and in everything  real or imagined, that is Holy Week in Seville.  (A non-Christian woman from London told me that it is  a "soul's fair").
Is it religious?, oh yes! in the  etymological sense and meaning of the word (from the Greek, rek  likiuos, "linking back").
Is it Christian? Absolutely, in its (rarely practiced) perfect ideal: the suffering, the forgiving, the redemption through love and death ("bleeding hearts"?), the resurrection (born-again?), the hope eternal and the conquering power of goodness. 
Besides these pseudo-philosophical attempts to put into words what is beyond words I can tell you something more practical: Through its magnificent exuberance, the pulled out of their safety-nest emotions by the music, the processions, the artistic representations and the wondrous response to them by the hundreds of thousands of onlookers,  most of us are carried, , often unwillingly, outside of the boundaries of our comfort emotional zones to find  that it is far, by far,  quite fulfilling and incredibly comfortable  outside such boundaries.
I don't know what else to say, except paraphrase, from the bottom of my heart,  the title of an old French song: I wish you Holy Week in Seville.
Besides that, there is an old saying in Spanish which I am totally unable to translate:
"No hay mal que por bien no venga"
It refers to, sort-of, emotional and spiritual serendipity.
Many of us practicing Catholics did not take Pope Benedict seriously: an older priest, scholarly, classical pianist with his head buried in books for decades and decades occupying the place of that giant of our times John  Paul II? No way!  I, for one, actually Benedict,  and because every mention  of him reminded me of the loss of the Pope that I admired and loved dearly (and still do), I simple ignored the new Pope completely. 
.Well, the recent, and relentless attacks on the present Pope for sins and crimes  committed by homosexual-pedophilic priests decades and decades ago, from whom the present Pope was many managerial levels removed, have created a tremendous wave of sympathy and support for Benedict Vi. Further, that the obsessive attacks are directed against  the entire Catholic church  because of the crimes of some priests (3% of the total of priests, I believe) whose homosexual pedophilia proportionally is far lower than that in the general population, has provoked the opposite response from that which those seeking to blacken the standing of the church among its faithful have sought.
The most repeated comments I heard were:  "Nero blamed the burning of Rome on the Christians, the U.S. press is blaming the crimes of  miscreants priests on the Pope".
Well, the Camino de Santiago Associations in Andalucia are planning their own views on this sorry subject:  The Via de la Plata people were organizing bus trips to Santiago to show support for the Pope when he visits Santiago on November 6th.  By the time I left, 12 buses had already been booked up by Sevillians alone; and then there are those from Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz, Jerez, etc. etc.
Personally, I think the whole thing a pretty bad idea. Seville is 1,000 kms. from Santiago, which means at least two days in what is going to be a very, very, crowded road. Santiago is going to be absolutely chock-full. The Queen and King have announced that they will be there and now it is believed that the well-liked Prince Felipe and the enormously popular Princess Leticia will also be there (those countries who have princesses just love them...... remember when Britain lost its legendary stiff-upper-lip phlegm over Diana?) 
The city of Santiago is rather small, as we all know.... it cannot possibly accommodate such oceans  of people. Where will they eat? wash their hands?
Now that the Cathedral has imposed limits on the people who entered it.... they won't even be able to get in. (I, myself, am thinking of canceling my plans to be there for the occasion).
Oh well!  Spain will never cease to surprise me in its ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat.  
Someone said, ages ago, that the greatest magician in the world cannot get a rabbit out of a hat unless there is already a rabbit in it.
Who, what, is the rabbit in Spain's hat?    Santiago? Albarinho? Seville? The Cathedral of Leon? The chickens in Santo Domingo? Eunate? San Juan de la Penha? The albergues? Mari and Susana at the Pilgrims office and the Archconfraternity? The opening/closing of the holy Door? The Berengela bell? Maestro Mateo? Churros?
Methinks, my dears,  that the entire whole of Spain is a fantastic rabbits' warren.
I will post, (soon, I promise) inasmuch as I can, a brief narrative of Holy Week in Seville, with reference to sites where you can hear the music and, maybe, sense the people's miracle that has been taking place there for centuries and centuries. 
Hugs from a sunny New York City wherefrom Indian Winter seems to have, finally, departed.
Rosina





-----Original Message-----
From: Johnnie Walker <johnniewalker-santiago at hotmail.com>
To: gocamino at oakapple.net
Sent: Mon, Mar 29, 2010 5:52 pm
Subject: [Gocamino] Semana Santa




reetings everyone

s the great week has started I've posted a slideshow which might evoke memories 
or those who have seen Semana Santa in Spain or be interesting for those who 
aven't. No doubt we will have a first hand account from Rosina at some poi 


                      
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