PhD Program in Historical studies
The Holy Week Confraternities in Seville
The confraternities of Seville are the undisputed protagonists of the many processions that take place during Holy Week in the streets of the Andalusian capital. Some of these spectacles are quite recent in origin (the Palm Sunday one was born in the late nineteenth century, those of Monday, Tuesday, Holy Saturday and Easter, however, date back to the first half of the twentieth century), compared to the oldest and traditional ceremonies of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The sacred processions of Holy Week in Seville are carried out under the supervision of the Consejo General de Hermandades y Cofradías (General Council of Brotherhoods and Confraternities). It is a body created in 1954 to co-ordinate the activities of the numerous Sevillian confraternities (more than sixty, if you count those that parade on Friday and Saturday of the Passion, or on two days before Palm Sunday). The General Council oversees compliance with the routes and timing of the performance of individual processions. Any confraternity, after leaving its respective church (which houses the signs and symbols of the association), is required to make the Carrera Oficial, the common path that will lead to the Cathedral. The average length of the official procession is only about thirty minutes, with the exception of some associations that employ an hour or more. The complete procession with all the confraternities, however, can last for a whole day. During the penitential procession (called the Estación de Penitencia), representatives of the Consejo perform trials on each cofradía twice: in the fifties and sixties, failure to comply with the strict ceremonial protocol involved heavy penalties, which could extend to the prohibition of participation in the parade the following year.