Bodega Tour/Semana Santa Preview

This is kind of a piece-meal blog, just to warn you:
Last week for one of my classes we had a company visit to a small Pueblo on the coast of Southern Spain to a Bodega, where they are famous for their Brandy. We learned all about the company and about Brandy...then of course we got to taste the Brandy (that was over 80 years old!) and also two types of wine that they sell. The Bodega was called " La Gitana" located in San Lucar de Barramedas. The coolest part was how the man giving the tour poured the sample into your glass. I have some photos and a video to follow!
As of lately, the weather has been perfect in Sevilla, upper 60's and sunny every day! I am taking full advantage of it by exploring the parks the city has to offer. The other day I went to a "Seafood of Galicia" (northern Spain) exposition and had octopus, literally the woman had an boiled octopus sitting on a table and was cutting up the legs with scissors and putting it on a plate. You can google Pulpo a la Gallega if you want to see a photo!
This coming week is Semana Santa (Holy Week), as I'm sure many of you know, but here in Sevilla they have the best, and largest celebration of Semana Santa in the world. It lasts all week, and there is actually a program of processions, telling where and when they go through the city. It is very difficult to describe, but here goes nothing. Basically the processionals contain Nazarenos, which are people dressed in cone-hats and full robes, with only holes where their eyes are. Some processionals are silent, but others have bands that play beautiful music. The most impressive part of a processional is the "float" that is adorned with life-like figures of Jesus or Mary or other religious figures and plated in silver or gold, with candels and flowers covering every inch of the platform. The amazing part about this is that they aren't floats on wheels, but rather they are platforms that about 30 Sevillano Men go underneath and carry on their heads. They wear, what looks like to me, an Israeli headdress with some padding. It is AMAZING. The dedication these men have to practice for weeks ahead of time, carrying the float that weighs hundreds of pounds on their head. They are very coordinated in their steps and motions, it is truley an art. Several directors walk in front and back of them, as they can't see a thing, and tell them which way to go and if their speed is appropriate, etc. The common call is "Venga, Valiente," this means come on, valiently!
In Sevilla there is an enormous amount of respect for Semana Santa and for these men, called costaleros (it is considered an honor). Since I am traveling this week with Mom and Jake, I won't get to see the event, and my senora, Araceli, is obsessed and was really sad about that. So yesterday we met in el centro and she took me to see two "processional simulations." It is very expensive to particpate as a processional during Semana Santa and your platform has to have some level of antiquity, most of them are hundreds of years old. The ones I saw yesterday are ones that will eventually be in the Holy week, but as of now, are waiting. The first one we went to see, was cool, there were several Nazarenos, walking barefoot, bearing crosses or tall candels, and the float was neat. It was a silent processional. The second one we saw, Araceli informed me was much more like Semana Santa. It was beautiful. Hundreds of Nazarenos (of every age, even some 3/4 year olds) , two bands, and a beautiful, enormous float (photos to follow)The coolest part was that the people walk directly in front of the float backwards, and it is extremely crowded. This is prohibited during the actual Semana Santa, but yesterday everyone was doing it! Araceli, who has lived in Sevilla her whole life, had never experienced what we did yesterday. We walked this way for over a mile in front of the costaleros. Every once in a while, they take a break and set the float down onto its four legs. To signal to the costaleros when to pick it back up, there is a door-knocker that they knock several times. They walk it from a certain point all the way into a church. The most awe-inspiring part of this art was once they reached the church, hundreds of people everywhere, a band was playing valient music, the director was carefully guiding them to turn the float 360 degrees around. To fit through the church doorway (which was very tall) they had to get on their knees and crawl it in, stll on their heads...yes it was beautiful, and probably quite painful. So the 30 men under the float, in unision got on their knees and ever-so-carefully, inch-by-inch, moved into the church...during this time, the entire crowd was silent making signs of the cross and observing this art. I was moved. The respect the people have is magnificent, even the 13 year old kids in the crowd were silent, looking on respectufully. I tried to explain to Araceli that there I don't think people at home would ever be able to show that much respect to anything, there just isn't that deeply of a rooted tradition. Photos are to follow because it really cannot be put into words. If you are religious at all, or not, this art form deserves some attention and enormous amount of respect.