PhD Program in Historical studies
The Corpus Christi of Seville
Corpus Christi is a liturgical ceremony of medieval origin (thirteenth century), in which the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is celebrated. It is held on the Thursday after Pentecost (a movable feast which falls on the fiftieth day after Easter Sunday). From the beginning, the feast of Corpus Christi has been interpreted by the Church as an opportunity to stage episodes inspired by the Holy Scriptures or the lives of the saints, first with the help of actors and then with puppets, statues and statuary groups and scenic apparatuses. In Seville, these events were referred to variously juegos, autos sacramentales, carros or danzas.
The origin of the procession in Seville dates back to the Early Modern period. In a short time, Corpus Christi became one of the most important religious feasts in the city. It was and still is the occasion on which the delicate balance between the social and institutional components of the Andalusian city are put to the test. In the past, the celebrations envisaged the setting up of extraordinary devices (the famous wagons, also called castillos or rocas, carried on shoulder or dragged by litters with the help of wheels) on which dramatized representations of biblical or hagiographic themes and ritual dances were presented. Of all this, today, only a few traces remain. It is likely that such representations, which included the participation of living people, as happened a little everywhere in Europe as a result of the Counter-Reformation, more composed ceremonies with groups of statues also abounded in Seville. This, for example, did not happen in Valencia, where you can still witness such staged events with living characters. At the end of the eighteenth century processional giants and the Tarasca were ousted from Corpus Christi parades. Still however, together with the Blessed Sacrament (the Eucharist symbol enclosed in beautiful silver monstrance dating back to the late sixteenth century), in Seville some groups of statues parade called pasos.