Easter!

Easter week in Spain is a huge event! It's called Semana Santa (Holy Week) filled with lots of pomp and circumstance. Each town has their own Semana Santa processions and the ones here in Andalusia (the Southern region of Spain) are the most notable. The processions are organized each evening from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday with some lasting up to 9 hours in and around the city.

People carry sculptures and models of biblical scenes around on floats or wooden platforms (these floats can weigh several hundred pounds), with an atmosphere of mourning (some singing, people playing instruments, etc). The floats will be of Mary, Jesus on the cross,... we saw one of Jesus on a Donkey that is carried on palm Sunday.

The parades culminate with the Easter Sunday procession with a float of the risen Savior and dancing and singing in the streets. This one is more like a parade and cathedral bells are heard ringing throughout the city. It's quite awe inspiring.

So, Johann, the girls and I were having some dinner in town when I about swallowed my tongue because I looked up and saw (what in my experience) was a group of KKK members walking toward us.

I reminded myself I was in Spain during holy week and not in America and took some deep breaths. Johann and I remarked later how neat it is that our girls are growing up here where their association with these robed men will be so different than that of which they would have been introduced to in the states.

So, we finished our dinner and followed the huge crowds. It seemed the entire town was out - and dressed for church. Small babies to the very, very old were making their way down the cobblestone street and waiting patiently for the parade to pass. We waited about 30 minutes in the crowds when the first group of mourners went by. The girls were ready to go and with the huge crowds we weren't able to have a good look anyway, so we went home, determined that next year, we'd plan better and see the procession up close.

The next day the base held a huge Easter Egg hunt. Complete with face painters, bouncers, arts and crafts, hundreds of eggs, the Easter Bunny and an Easter brunch in the galley. The girls had a ball.


Sunday, we went to church on base and met some nice people before heading home for Easter dinner.