-oOo- The Five Senses -oOo-
 

Sight: The Fraternities Circles

As I have already commented in my introduction, the whole year is good for Seville to remember the visitor which is its Holy Week which is its devotion and its religion, over cults, overcoming beliefs. Throughout the whole year, it is easy to listen in any corner of the city to the sounds of the bugles and drums of the bands testing for what will be the Week of Passion.

Equally, the confreres re-join in gatherings where to speak and to celebrate commemorative acts of the Passion, Death and Christ's Resurrection. These gatherings receive names related to the processions of Holy Week: " La Bambalina", "El Pabilo (The Wick)" or the name of the typical bar where they re-join, since " The Rinconcillo ", but we can get the one previously named as a sign of this different way of understanding the fraternities" in our land.

Hearing: Golden Letters with Magic Sounds

As prelude to the great event, Seville gets ready intensely to revive every year its Holy Week, perhaps the main act the Speech that is carried out in the Maestranza Theatre open those seven crucial days for the capital of Andalusia. Words and poetry that lift the body hair in the skin and arise the anguish in the soul.

And who have not ever heard to speak about the "Saeta", that pain and cry mixture that grows from the silence, having flamenco as its father and poetry as his mother. Deep song of cult that the sevillian knows how to respect and to listen with sublime consideration, act that has its highest relevance in the "Saeta's Exaltation" that takes place every year in the Salvador Church, the other Cathedral of this city of Maria.

Essential things in the Holy Week are the Bands of bugles and drums and, of course, The Music Bands. The first ones go with the Christ's pasos and they preceding to the "Cruz de Guía" and the seconds ones go with the Virgin Maria and her grief.

"Réquiem", "Amos de Madre", "Amargura", “La Madrugá”, "Esperanza Trianera" and "Roció" are some of the musical topics that go through our ears while we try to control those tears of emotion whith are born in favour of a good "chicota" or of that beautiful "mecida" that the "costaleros" give to the Mother of God.

But Seville also has its sacred music. Sobriety and Seriousness creating pain notes and mercy toward Christ with the chapel music, or in the concert that is made glory in the Miserere of Eslava to take place in the Cathedral in previous days to the Holy Week. "Tos por igual valientes... ¡A esta es!" (All equally brave... To this it´s!), and after a sudden blow of llamador, the float rises to the sky.

They are the Capataz words giving commands to the "costaleros" to start the walking of the float, as well as with "¡Ahí Queó!" (There it was!) indicates them the end of the same one. To conclude, the sound of the alpargatas of the costaleros, beautiful rhythm that is created while the float is moving forward and that, in the silence emerged from the people's faith sounds to celestial music, as well as the voice of the people acclaiming their virgins when going by their fraternity, fact that, in some occasions can touch rudeness.

And if you have the bad luck of falling sick in your visit to this great sevillian event, don't worry, the local televisions and the radio will inform you on time about the exits, entrances and official route of the fraternities, without uproars, without hurries, although I assure you that it doesn't have anything to do with the reality of the moment, with the experience of feeling the fraternity in direct.

Touch: To handle God.

It is curious but, one of their main purposes of the visitor, is to touch the images, this fact can be considered almost a challenge. What they don't know is that it is impossible. We go step by step; it is impossible to touch the images when they are on their Floats, but all the fraternities carry out previous to the Holy Week Triduos, Quinarios, etc. in which they put their images in "besapiés or besamanos", only true moment in which we can touch the images.

One very particular act is to touch the respiraderos of the floats when it is stopped or passing next to us, although in fact what should be made is to be crossed since is not allowed to touch the floats, although reality is very different.

Another it forms of activating this sense it is the wax that comes off the cirios carried by the nazarenos. It can be very curious the cortege of children that come closer to the nazarenos to request them some wax, which they accumulate little by little, until forming a great ball.

Anyway this fact becomes the true penance for the nazareno, since the pursuit of some of these children (and not so), can irritate to the most quiet person, mainly in the tract of the official route. The opposite side, is the smile that the children show when they receive a candy from the nazarenos.

Taste: The Snack Bars about the fraternities.

With the same name of the flower "Azahar", we find in Saint Julian quarter one of the first cofrades bars that, together with a good appetizer, an icy beer, incense scent and cofrades sounds, submerges us during the whole year in that characteristic atmosphere that turns our city into a Via-Crucis of constant illusion.

But, the same as this, other cofrades names give life to a great number of bars, where the talks and the wisdom is mixer with the fraternities´ pictures, with the images, and with typical foods of the town, significant museums of the Holy Week of Seville...

And we find the "Albores", in Palma del Río street in Pio XII´s quarter, "La Madrugá" in San Hermenegildo quarter, "El Pabilo", "La Bambalina", and a lot more, but reference you can visit these ones and to check yourselves why names of bars related with the Holy Week appear.

Note:

As an atypical reference in this section, I will include a bar that, although it does not seem cofrade at the first sight, it is a crucial point of visit for all the people that is near Santa Catalina's Church. I refer to El Rinconcillo's Bar (also it´s a restaurant), located between Gerona street and Los Terceros square. We recommend you to taste its spinaches or its "pavias" while you see to leave the temple or to arrive the Fraternity of the Exaltación, known by "Los Caballos" and that marches past on Good Thursday.

Smell: Orange Blossom Fragrance

We move through the time at the beginning of march. The orange trees start to show those white tones that shortly will give form to the Orange blossom, perfuming the sevillian streets with that characteristic fragrance that makes it different, that warns the spring cannot wait any more, that soon.. very soon, God will travel Seville, accompanied by its town.

This time we choose the month of June and we go for a walk for the historical downtown, taking as starting point the Encarnacion Square and walking Puente y Pellón down street addressing to the Salvador Square.

Exactly between these two points we can find Cordoba street, which has an exotic fragrance that invades the air and delights the soul, a scent to Church, to sanctity...

It's the incense that is sold in small travelling stands, fragrance that belongs to the biggest Temple erected for Christ and known by "Seville", Maria's land, mixture of essences coming from east that goes before the floats in the Holy Week and that, just in this sevillian street, we can enjoy during the whole year, essence that arises from the insencers with the same form that the Cartuja's Monastery and that confers grace to the pills of incandescent coal.

Maybe you, in their particular external vision of the passion, you don't understand the relationship between the scent ant the devotion, but if you are planning to visit us in Holy Week, you will be able to understand the great relationship and the reciprocity among these terms, feelings and senses as one.

Vocabulary

Saeta: A short flamenco folk song.

Cruz de Guía: A Cross which opens the procession.

Chicotá: The stetch of the route covered by a float from the time the capataz gives the order to raise the float until it stops again.

Mecida: Particular move of the float to the rhythm of the music.

Costaleros: Men who carries the floats.

Llamador: Piece at the front of the float to give the signal to raise or lower the float.

Capataz: Man at the head of the float who give the orders to the costaleros.

Alpargatas: Rope-soled sandal.

Triduos/Quinarios: Religious acts carry out in the Fraternities in commemoration of Christ and the Virgin

Besapies/besamanos: To kiss the feet or the hands of the images like act of faith.

Respiraderos: Breathers. Lateral parts of the floats.

Cirios: Candles carries by the nazarenos.

Nazarenos: Members of the fraternities which make up the procession.

Azahar: Orange Blossom.

Pavias: Hake or codfish fried.

Los Caballos: The Horses Fraternity (popular name).

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