Semana Santa, Valladolid
A warning - this is a long post!
Valladolid was once, briefly, the capital of Spain, back in the early years of the 17th Century, prior to Madrid taking that role. With a population of nearly 301,000 it has all the things one needs in a city, with lots of vibrancy, but without the crowded, almost frenetic pace, of Madrid. Although there were many tourist there, they seemed to be mostly "locals" as Spanish was the most prominent language I heard, rarely English or others, such a French or German.
It has many gracious buildings, is well laid out, and, outside the city centre, with wide boulevards. There are small parks, and one lovely large garden, which one of the processions went through, but more on that later. There are some lovely water fountains and numerous sculptures dotted around too.
The Plaza Mayor is expansive, with the buildings illuminated at night. Special stands had been erected for people to sit and watch the passing processions, though not all will pass this way. The main shopping street is wide, and traffic free, and has a plethora of shops, including, thank goodness, an Orange store. No, not the fruit kind of orange, but one selling sim cards. Though I tried, many times, I had not been able to recharge my sim, and so I was glad to be able to call on them for assistance.
It is the usual Spanish city in that it has many churches, some even open! It has a VERY cold Cathedral, which I can only describe as "solid ". I might be saying solid instead of ugly. Usually I find things that impress me, move me, or surprise me, in a building such as this, but I must say I was unmoved. Other churches I visited though were a different story, and a couple of them were nearly as big as any Cathedral.
I spent four nights here, and was lucky enough to have booked a hotel a stones throw from the Plaza Mayor, where I went for brekky each morning. But best of all, it had a balcony which overlooked the path of a couple of the processions.
The nice thing about the old town of Valladolid is that many of the buildings are arcaded, so during wet weather it is possible to stay dry. There is even a delightful small arcade like we think of as an arcade at home. These kinds of arcades are not common in Spain - or not where I've been I should say!
As I have said, I was in Valladolid to see the beginning of Semana Santa, what we in Australia call Holy Week. The tourist office had a very good programme booklet in English, but I also picked up a Spanish version which had even more information. Some things I saw by chance, but most I planned to see.
I was sitting in the back pew of a chuch on my first night, Thursday, and it started to fill, standing room only, so I stayed put. My experience of Mass in Spain is that musically it leaves a bit to be desired, with the exception of the church that my friend John plays the organ in, and a couple of special services in the Santiago Cathedral. This service was an exception too. I couldn't see them, but I think that the music was supplied by a string quartet, with the addition of an oboe. I only recognised two of their selection, by Bach, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring and Ave Maria. What a treat!
Earlier in the day while passing this church I noticed that at the altar there was what looked like a red slide, and a big red box at the base of it. Well, near the end of the service I found out what it was for! There was a distinct ratcheting sound, and then the red box started to glide up the slide. When it reached the top, two men in suits appeared and carefully lifted the icon onto the box, and she slowly descended. That was my first Semana Santa experience.
Day 2 of Semana Santa, Friday, is known as Viernes de Dolores, which translates as Friday of Sorrows. I planned to watch two processions, but it wasn't to be. The first one was meant to start at 9.00pm. I followed the crowd, selected a spot and waited, along with everyone else, in the rain - for an hour!.
After nothing appearing, at 10.00pm I headed off to the next one. After about 5 mins walking in the rain my brain kicked into gear and I figured that if procession one was not happening because of the rain, the next one wouldn't either. I turned around, headed back, and was astonished to find everyone had vanished, as I discovered, to a church opposite where they had all been standing. For a while, I stood in the doorway, until I spied a chair in a corner. Again, a big surprise, a wonderful choir this time. I couldnt see a thing, or understand a word, but the music said it all. People came and dripped, and went, still dripping! Some stayed for five minutes others for the duration.
Day 2 is known as Sábado de Pasión, or Passion Saturday. There were two processions scheduled. One at 6.00 pm and the next at 7.00 pm and the weather was fine, and so they both took place
You might be wondering why I have been so keen to see these processions. The whole of Semana Santa is marked throughout Spain, but at the same time they are very local. The processions are run by different cofradía (Brotherhood), each one in different costumes and carrying a different paso (float). The cofradía is responsible for organising the procession, including the bands that provide the music, and training those carrying the paso. These processions have been going on for centuries in many cases and are a solemn occasion. Some participate to show their Catholicism and their faith, others for the history, but all are serious and solemn. I wanted to see the colour and pageantry and to hear the music, which included lots of drumming!
Always drums!
Day 3, Palm Sunday, thankfully dawned overcast but DRY. One of the issue's with these processions is that many of the sculptures / icons (not sure what to call them) are hundreds of years old and water would severely damage them. Some are made of wood, but still fragile, but there are some that are made from a sort of cloth papier-mâché. Thus, if it is raining, even drizzling, they can't go out. Unfortunately, near the end of the Palm Sunday procession it started drizzling. The umbrellas came up, and the procession ground to a halt.
As I walked around the city centre I passed a number of stalls with plastic things (turned out they were palm fronds), drums and castanets. These, it transpired, were for palm Sunday.
On this day the children walk through the streets with their "palm fronds". They too are dressed in their cofradía colours, and children watching, along with their parents and grandparents were in their Sunday best! I felt out of place in my pilgrim clothes!
After the children have ambled - can't really say marched - to the Cathedral, they join a very long procession, with adults too, in which there is a paso of Christ on a donkey. This seems to go on for hours, with almost every cofradía supplying its own band. I watched a lot of this from the hotel balcony.
As I said earlier, the second procession began 9.00pm, though it was closer to 10.00pm by the time it got to my vantage point. The thing that is notable with these processions is not only the huge number of participants, but even more spectators, sometimes as many as 10 - 12 deep, on both sides of the road. They are all ages too, from babies and toddlers, children, teenagers, young adults right through to "old" adults. It is extraordinary!
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