Semana Santa in Seville

Each brotherhood processes with one to three pasos, the floats: typically one scene of the Passion of Christ and one image of the Virgin under a canopy, lit by hundreds of candles. They are carried by teams of costaleros hidden underneath, who move in step to the commands of a foreman, and the slow swaying of a Virgin's float through a narrow street is the image that defines the week.

Ahead of the floats walk the nazarenos, penitents in robes and tall pointed hoods (capirotes) carrying candles or crosses, sometimes numbering in the thousands for a single brotherhood. The hoods have nothing to do with their later misuse in the United States; they are a centuries-old Spanish penitential tradition.

Every procession must pass through the official route, the carrera oficial, which runs through La Campana, Calle Sierpes, Plaza de San Francisco, Avenida de la Constitucion, and into the cathedral. Seats along it are rented for the whole week and tightly controlled.

The high point is La Madruga, the early hours of Good Friday, when some of the most revered brotherhoods, including La Macarena, El Gran Poder, and the Esperanza de Triana, are in the streets through the night. Moments when a flamenco saeta is sung from a balcony to a passing Virgin are the ones people talk about for years.