Today is the saddest day, since Jesus dies and all the stuff. Some pasos have flowers thrown on them. Others glide in the darkness because everyone turns of their lights as they pass by. And most of them, when the people carrying the pasos rest, have a Saeta sung to them, which is basically a branch of Flamenco, but it's a solo in the middle of a street with no instruments. It's basically an eargasm.
Semana Santa is obviously extremely religious, but at the same time it's not. The people who carry the pasos do it as repentence (it's at least 8 hours, no easy task) but the people who watch do it out of custom, whilst others break down in tears and pray. It's a very big cultural mix of tradition and leisure and religion. Which brings me to my main point:
Spaniards are very tolerant of religion. Or at least, they're so used to it since it's ingrained in their culture. Most of my friends are Atheists or non-practicing Catholics, but that doesn't mean they're unaccepting. One of my friends has shown me every single church, explained the history of every single brick, and has attended Mass with me. Yet he's an Atheist.
This is something very few Americans would do. It's pretty typical for an American Atheist to shun a cross like a vampire, but a Spaniard never would, because it's frankly intolerant. They understand that personal religious affiliations and interactions with others in religious terms have no over-lapping.
Oh, and a common Semana Santa treat is the Pirulí. A cane of sugar that even I can't finish. Shame. And the little kids collect wax from people carrying these enormous candles along with the pasos, on little aluminum balls. Fun AND logical, right?
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