Semana Santa

Don't be alarmed at the photos. This is not a KKK celebration , it is a procession from Semana Santa in Málaga! For those of you who don´t know, Spaniards don´t celebrate Easter like we do in the United States. In the south of Spain at least, the biggest celebrations being in Sevilla and Malaga, there is a week long celebration of music, dance, theater, culture and religion during the last week of lent called Semana Santa which means "Holy Week." The week is defined by its stunning processions. Generally each procession boasts a float with either the Virgin or a scene from Christ´s passion. Holding up each float are about 40 or 50 men called "costaleros" who haul the float on their shoulders and control the swaying motion of the float. The biggest difference between the processions in Malaga and Sevilla is that in Malaga the costaleros can be seen carrying the float while in Sevilla they are hidden under a curtain and you can only see their feet shuffling by.

The processions went on all week long, but since I was in Morocco I just got to see the last two days of them. There were dozens going on all day from 4pm until 4am right in front of my flat! Many times it was very difficult to exit and enter my building, kind of like how people living on Fifth Avenue feel during the Puerto Rican Day Parade. I felt privileged to witness such an important tradition in southern Spain (even though the outfits really creep me out.)