Good Friday

Street vendor selling palms

Getting back into the swing of things, Chris and I walked around on Palm Sunday to see what was going for Holy Week.   Street vendors were selling palm fronds, as well as sprigs of bay leaves.  I've never heard of bay leaves used on Palm Sunday; it must be a local tradition.






The trees started to bloom on Calle Mayor and the whole feeling of the city was warm and happy.

Spray Painted Jesus was back in the Puerta del Sol with a new pascal lamb ... nice touch for the Easter season.  He revamped his outfit and gave it a new coat of silver paint.

But he had competition this week;  an all-new ascending Jesus for Easter, seemingly suspended a couple of feet off the ground.  He had a well-conceived and well-executed presentation, and was no doubt giving Spray Painted Jesus some cause for concern.

Capriotes in the Plaza Mayor

Hey man, can you give me a light?

Yesterday was Good Friday, and all of Spain has elaborate street processions during Holy Week.  Capriotes are the pointed hats for which these processions are famous, and people usually think of Seville because that's where the processions are the most intense.  But Madrid certainly has its share of Holy Week activities as well.

The body of Christ in procession

All afternoon, a jazz band was playing "Hit the Road Jack" on saxophone in the Puerta del Sol, but that abruptly stopped in the early evening not long before the big Good Friday procession started in Madrid.  All of the street performers packed up and went home to make way for sacred event.

I went across the street to the Plaza Mayor for big event.  Everyone began lining an unmarked path through the Plaza for the procession about an hour or so ahead of time, so I took my place as well.  Unfortunately, the street lights in the plaza made for poor photographs, but I have included some of what I saw.  Then later, I went out the Calle Mayor where I took some more images of the procession coming down the street.  What an amazing event!  In Seville, the processions are done in complete silence, but not in Madrid.  Here, they have accompanying bands as well as applause and general crowd noise.  And like any of these type events, photos and videos just don't capture the moment.

Here are some video clips of the event: