CARNAVAL

The notion of 'carnaval' probably dates back some four thousand years to an Egyptian festivity in honor of the godess Osiris. To some degree this continued in the 'baccanalia' celebrations of the Romans and it comes down to us today via the Roman Catholic Church, who decreed the celebration three days before the beginning of Lent. The word comes from the Latin carnem levare, in reference to the prohibition on eating meat on Fridays during the forty day period leading up to Easter. In Roman times it allowed master and servant to share the same table in debauchery and gluttony, in Catholic times it allowed for people to "blow off some steam" as it were before the traditional sacrificial period of fasting and the denial of other earthly pleasures.

Carnaval culminates with Fat Tuesday. With the arrival of Ash Wednesday celebration is over and it is a time for meditation and attonement. Tell that to the Gaditanos.

Cadiz carnaval goes beyond the February 8 'Mardi Gras' to Sunday the 13th. The eleven day or so event really begins gearing up much earlier, because of the numerous competitions that take place to select the best chirigota for the year's carnaval. Cadiz is considered somewhat the humor/comedy capital of Spain and nowhere is this in greater evidence than during carnaval. Chirigotas, or groups (usually men) of singers with a guitarist and an oom-pah drummer in accompaniment compose and rehearse their compositions for a chance at the finales in the Gran Teatro Falla (this year February 4th and considered the traditional start of Carnaval), where other chirigotas compete with comic skits and costumes in addition to their songs. Difficult sometimes even for other Spaniards to understand, they choose current events in Spain and beyond to satirise, with hilarious lyrics that spare no public figure, not even the recently married Prince Felipe,or political figures such as the deposed Jose Maria Aznar or the current presiden, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Add to the chirigotas the coros, or orchestras of costumed performers usually accompanied with traditional spanish mandolin and lute player and, outside of the Teatro Falla you are bound to find many groups of ilegales, groups of enthusiasts not participating officially in the contests but providing no less a spectacle with their own witty and humorous kazoo enriched music and lyrics. It is really the ilegales who provide the street atmosphere for carnaval and for a memorable experience one should seek them out at night in the streets of the neighborhood of La Viña, such as calles Martínez Campos, Corralón de los Carros, Trinidad, Patrocinio, Virgen de la Palma, San Nicolás, Paz, and Paco Alba; and plazas such as Tío de la Tiza, and José Macías Rete.

Just about everyone gets into the spirit of Carnaval so you may feel out of place if you show up without some kind of costume. Masks are uncommon, in fact for many years the carnaval of Jerez was prohibited in the past because of masked carnaval goers that used their anonimity to 'settle scores' with enemies. Undoubtedly the most popular time to go are the two weekends of Carnaval, the first considered to be the better of the two but gaditanos will tell you this is not when they really celebrate Carnaval, leaving it to the scores of outsiders that come from all over to join in the celebration. Gaditanos love their Carnaval and are usually out carrousing until the early morning hours even during the work (?)week. The two Sundays of Carnaval also feature parades throughout the old town.

Though Jerez and other towns in the area and for that matter Spain celebrate carnaval, few can match the intensity of Cadiz in its finest hour. Visitors will find this as the friendliest time to be in Cadiz as just about the whole town gets roaring drunk. Fights are rare despite the huge crowds and it is easy to make local friends who can point you in the direction of the good spots from which to hear the various chirigotas, coros, or ilegales perform. RENFE also offers an extended train service to and from Jerez during the two weekends of Carnaval for revelers wanting to experience it without staying overnight, though its likely you'll be there until the early hours of the morning. Well worth experiencing at least once!

SEMANA SANTA

For many Jerezanos, Semana Santa or Holy Week, culminating in Easter, represents the climax of the year. It begins with Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday, March 20 2005) and ends the following Sunday, known as Domingo de Resureccion. It is the single greatest expression of their Catholic faith and for the visitor offers a dazzling spectacle of sights, smells and sounds matchable only by the hedonism of the Spring Horse Fair in May.

The Holy Week tradition is believed to have started in the 4th century A.D. in Jerusalem, where believers followed the route that Jesus Christ supposedly walked on his way to Calvary and his subsequent crucifixion. This tradition was then passed onto Italy by pilgrims and took root in Spain, some saying as early as the 13th century (in Seville with King Fernando III's vanquishing of the Moors from that city) and gaining wider currency throughout the rest of the country in the 15th century, with the organization by Franciscan orders of brotherhoods dedicated to doing penitence. There are still a few active brotherhoods in Jerez's Holy Week celebrations that date from this period, one of which, El Cristo de la Viga (Christ of the Wooden-Beam) was paraded about the streets of Jerez well before Columbus's landing in the Americas.

Even the non-believer cannot help but be impressed with their first time in Andalucia during Holky Week. The streets are fragrant with the sweet smell of orange blossoms and frankincense, the solemn and militant drumming of the marching corps, punctuated by processional songs and trumpets both solitary and in rising unison, fill the otherwise quiet streets, and everywhere one sees the penitentes, or the members of the different brotherhoods that march through the ancient streets of Jerez, dressed in brightly coloured (or in some cases somber black) robes and hoods, calling into the minds of many the Ku Klux Klan, who appropriated their dress from Semana Santa tradition.

Each brotherhood (there are some 30 odd in Jerez, close behind Sevilla and Malaga) parades with one or two highly decorative floats bearing statues of Christ and the Virgin in scenes from the Passion. The floats or pasos are divided into ones representing Christ surrounded by various players in his final days such as Roman soldiers, Pontius Pilate, the apostles or the Virgin Mary (pasos de Misterio), Christ bearing his cross on his way to Calvary (pasos de Nazareno) and Christ on the Cross (pasos de Cristo). Many brotherhoods also parade a lavishly adorned Virgin Mary, called a paso de Palio in reference to the ornate canopy on which the figure sits, dressed in plush velvet robes surrounded in sculpted silver, dazzling candles and beds of carnations. These figures are on display in their parrishes in the weeks leading up to Holy Week, and many faithful in Jerez still participate in the besamanos and besapies, a custom in which one pays a visit to the statues of Christ or the Virgin Mary to pray and then kiss the feet or hand.

The floats are carried by tens of costaleros (or stevedores), unseen under the float itself. Visitors to Jerez and many Andalucian cities in the weeks before Holy Week will see traffic sometimes cut to allow for these brotherhoods who are staging "dress rehearsals", getting accustomed to moving in sync and handling the enormous weight of the float, all in preparation for the day in which their brotherhood will be out on the streets, sometimes for up to 8 or 9 hours. Costaleros and penitentes commit to marching as a symbolic act of faith, or in order to repay a debt to the Virgin for her intercession in their daily lives, a penitence which is taken quite seriously by some. In order to "increase" the level of commitment some penitentes will march descalzado or barefoot on the cold cobblestones, or bound themselves up in chains, or bear a heavy wooden cross on their particular path. I will never forget the sight of one penitente in Granada who, barefoot and bound in heavy chains that dragged behind him for several feet, made the processional march with his brotherhood (hermandad), seven hours, on his hands and knees.

The floats themselves are an explosion of Barroque wood carving, polished brass and silver, meticulously cared for sculptures some dating back centuries. The floats are so high prized that the brotherhood will not march if there is a hint of the possibility of rain along some point in the night, preferring to remain in their parish to do silent penitence rather than run the risk of spoiling the float.

Jerezanos themselves and in general most Spaniards make it a point to dress up to go out and watch Holy Week processions, and on Holy Thursday and Holy Friday it seems the entire town, even the meanest dressed punk, is wearing suit and tie. These two days are when one sees many women dressed in their finest blacks and don the mantilla, or traditional comb and shawl spreading down over them like a dark shroud, reminiscent of paintings the likes of a Goya or a Velazquez.

The tourist office in Jerez each year now publishes handy guides detailing the time of exit and entry into the church of each brotherhood, certainly the best times to view the processions, though some brotherhoods such as the Judios de San Mateo or La Yedra make their way through very moving areas of the old streets of Jerez where the sight of the penitentes and their candles, the crosses, and the statues are very memorable indeed. Particularly well known in Jerez are the aforementioned Cristo de la Viga, marching on Lunes Santo (Monday), where in its entrance to the Jerez Cathedral (as all brotherhoods must do, entering, saying prayers, then slowly making their way back to their home parrish) the way is lined by a spectacular fireworks display. El Prendimiento (on Wednesday) is the Christ beloved by the Santiago gypsies, who greet its return to the Santiago church with wild fan fare, singing its praise. This song, known as a Saeta, is quite commonly heard in Semana Santa processions, and is unmistakable for its mellismatic quality (reminiscent in some ways of the Muslim call to prayer) and deeply sobering affect. An entire crowd will hush at the passing of a float if, from some street balcony, a Saeta singer breaks out into a passioned lament for the tragedy of Christ. Flamenco enthusiasts will note the Saeta is in reality closely structured to one of the oldest palos of Flamenco, the martinete, but distinguished by the lyrics in tribute to Christ or the Virgin Mary.

Thursday, one of the most important days in Holy Week (and a national holiday in all Spain), sees the procession of a series of brotherhoods finishing around 1 or 2, and then, the madrugada or early morning processions, leaving their parrishes at 2 or 3 in the morning, marching through the streets to return in the late morning Friday. The whole town seems to stay up and the streetsof the historic center are abuzz like no other time of the year. La Buena Muerte and El Santo Crucifijo de la Salud are two notable processions to observe, the former for its recogida or return (also to Santiago church) and the emotive Saetas sung by distinguished members of its gypsy and Flamenco community, the latter for its exit from San Miguel church, where the power for the entire block is cut, the procession emerging by candlelight and a moving silence, usually pierced by a stirring Saeta.

One of the most beloved processions on Viernes Santo (Friday) is the Cristo de la Expiracion, with its parrochial home just down the street from the Riad. This Christ is notable in many ways, one because he has a mane of long hair (real hair donated by a gypsy woman member of the parrish), two because unlike many of the processions where the stevedores carry the float from underneath, here they bear him on either side of the float, supporting the weight with their shoulders, and they go without hoods, bearing a headdress reminiscent of the slaves in times of the Egyptian pharoahs. Many notable figures in the Jerez Flamenco world make sure to position themselves strategically in the plaza Cruz Vieja, or from the upstiars windows of Bar Maypa, to sing their homage to this Christ. It is not uncommon to have some of the neighborhood gypsy women break out into buleria song and dance in front of the procession, not the normal somber protocol of Semana Santa processions

For those who find the religiosity a bit heavy handed, there are plenty of bars where one can temporarily escape the sights and sounds to indulge in fried fish and beer. Semana Santa is certainly not a quiet time of reflexion, boisterous as Spaniards can be so it is with their Holy Week. It is a time for a lot of socializing, bar hopping (the somewhat sacriligious term for this is to go on a Via-Crucis, in reference to the14 stops Christ made on the way to his crucifixion) staying up late and for some, a good opportunity to get out of town. Jerez's Semana Santa is the city at its most vibrant and colorful, and has its place among some of the finest Semana Santa celebrations in Andalucia.

Keep checking back for updates on events taking place in Jerez!