Semana Santa at Maria Zambrano

Nazarenos in the parade

Today, in a celebration of Semana Santa, many of the kids in my school dressed up for a traditional parade through the school and the surrounding neighborhood. Walking into school, I saw teachers dressed up in black dresses, little girls in black lace and rosary beads, looking like grieving widows, and little boys in suits. The activities commenced at 9:15, as drums and music could be heard outside through the open windows.  At this point the kids were goners – standing up on their chairs to look at the musicians outside. The band then entered the school and marched through the hallways playing traditional Semana Santa music. The kids and I all ran to the door to have a look. I at least had an excuse to look – it was my first time ever seeing this happen!

Little weeping widows

procession

kids watching the parade

little ones holding the insense

 

After the band made their way towards the hallways, the classes were excused one by one to walk to the patio and sit, waiting for the procession. The first kids out were wearing the traditional Nazareno outfits. To sum up these outfits, they look just like the KKK. It has taken a lot this year to see these outfits everywhere and not get a sense of fear upon looking at them. Most Spaniards I talk to have no idea why these outfits would have such a bad connotation in America. The teacher sitting next to me, however, leaned over and said “this must remind you of the Ku Klux!” I was shocked that somebody had actually heard of this! So I responded yes, it is extremely weird and slightly frightening watching a procession of four year olds marching with crosses and white hoods. Next in line came the little girls dressed in black dresses, lace veils, rosaries, heels, red flowers and lipstick. They looked like miniature 60 year old women, and were of course adorable. Next, the sixth graders held tiny versions of the floats used during Semana Santa. In the real parades, 40 or 50 men stand underneath these enormous floats, carrying life size effigies to Mary or Jesus and about 100 burning candles. These versions were carried on small tables, and featured small figurines of the holy family.

waving to the audience

little women

guiding the parade

For many of the kids and teachers this parade was just business as usual. They had seen the pasos so many times that it no longer was exciting. Kids saw it as a great way to get out of class for an hour and talk to their friends. I, being the American, was snapping away photos on my cellphone and cursing myself for not bringing my camera. Looking around, my excitement was only matched by my little Chinese friend Hitao, who also had never seen the likes of a Semana Santa parade in school before. His look of excitement and awe mingled with a “what the hell is going on” look matched mine perfectly and made me laugh, knowing that at least one person shared my sentiments.

holding the torches

angry?

After this adorable parade, I went back to my next class, the fifth grade, where I was giving a presentation about American Easter. I talked about the Easter bunny, painting eggs, and showed some hilarious photos of me and Mark as kids dressed in our Easter best. The kids thought that the photos were hilarious, asked numerous questions about Mark, and could not believe that I used to be blond. The biggest deal for them, however, was that we didn’t celebrate Semana Santa, or holy week! One boy even asked “y donde está Jesús?!” (where is Jesus?). Instead of explaining about America's politically correctness and freedom of religion, I simply replied that for many people in America, Easter is not a religious holiday, but a day to get candy. This clearly went over their heads and they scoffed, pronoucing “que raro. Que raro seño!”

decorations in the school hallway