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Semana Santa Festival in Seville is a religious festival, if you go by the purists’ definition of this festival as solemnity is an essential element of the festival. But, the festival also involves a lot of mirth, merrymaking, carousing and frivolity too giving it a carefree carnival kind of mood. You know it is the time of Semana Santa Festival in Seville when the bars are open for full day and night with entire families including the senior-most members to the tiny tot, all arms staying up and celebrating till the wee hours of dawn.
Features of Semana Santa Festival in Seville
- Semana Santa Festival involves the marching in procession of brotherhoods of the church and penitents.
- This is followed by elaborate floats on which 17th c-images of the Virgin or Christ are carried.
- Preparations for the festival begin months ago. The bands start practicing their short, flamenco style hymns glorifying the Passion and the Virgin's sorrows throughout the city.
- Throughout the week, the processions leave churches all over the city from early afternoon onwards parading through the city and back to their resting place many hours later.
- The climax is the Good Friday morning when the procession leaves the churches at midnight and move through the town for most of the night.
- The processions take place during the week leading up to but not including Easter Sunday.
- The highlight of the procession is the arrival at the cathedral in the early hours of the morning.
- On the Thursday, the local women all dress in black and it is considered disrespectful for tourists to wear T-shirts and shorts.
- The final lap of the official route goes from La Campana to Calle Sierpes to the cathedral and around the Giralda and the Bishop's Palace.
- This is specially an excellent spot to watch the processions.
- Grandstands are erected in the main squares to facilitate the viewing capacity of the spectators.
- If you happen to travel Seville during this time, you can expect to buy a back row seat as the best seats are all sold out weeks in advance.
- Young lads from the locality carry the thrones in the procession.
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