In Andalucia, the "Hermandades" (Confraternities or Brotherhoods) continue to have major cultural importance—because of their large number as well as for their sociological role and meaning. They are primarily associations for religious cult and to honor, either in churches or in the street processions, the Blessed Sacrament, a particular moment in the Passion of Jesus, the cross as the central symbol of Christianity, Mary as mother or suffering, or a particular saint.

Throughout the centuries, these associations have also provided help to the needy as well in order to obtain spiritual benefits.

The Brotherhoods that process in the streets during Holy Week are called the "Confraternities of Nazarenos" or "Brotherhoods of Penance." Some "Hermandades" in Seville, the center of this popular form of religious expression in Spain, were founded as recently as the 1950’s. Most date back to the 1500s. "El Silencio" was founded in 1340 and today numbers some 850 Nazarenos, the anonymous members of a confraternity identifiable by their distinctive robes and covered faces. A few of the confraternities have as many as 2,000 Nazarenos but most number from 700-1,000 members.

Right: A crowd of several thousand gathered to watch the procession leave St. Peter’s Church in Seville. People often wait hours and then fall silent as the church doors open. Many of the processions are followed live on radio and tv, with the stations switching from town to town to give updates. Left: Volunteers gently cleaning the gold covered baroque paso in the Carmelite church in Jerez before the start of the procession through the streets. (CITOC photos)

The Carmelites and the Confraternities

The Carmelites today continue to have connections with the confraternities in Jerez, Osuna, Antequera (in the Ancient Church of the Carmelites), and in Granada. In Seville, the Carmelites founded several of the brotherhoods.

In the 1500’s, the Quinta Angustia was affiliated to the "Casa Grande del Carmen" in Seville. Now in the parish of St. Mary Magdalene, the Confraternity continues its street procession each Holy Thursday with some 480 Nazarenos and 46 costaleros carrying the paso at any one time. The figure of Christ is the creation of Pedro Roldán in 1659. The figure of Mary was completed by Vicente Rodríquez-Caso in 1934.

Other Confraternities established by the Carmelites in Seville include the Solidad de San Lorenzo, La Penas de San Vicente, and Las Siete Palabras.

The procession of Las Penas, on Monday of Holy Week, has two "pasos" or scenes, 600 Nazarenos and takes about five hours to complete.

On Wednesday of Holy Week, Las Siete Palabras, founded in the XVI by the Carmelites, makes its procession with three different scenes. Some 500 Nazarenos participate in the six hour procession.

Six processions begin in the early morning hours of Good Friday, the first leaving its home church 30 minutes past midnight. Another seven processions are held in the late afternoon and into the night. On other days as many as nine processions will move through the various neighborhoods of Seville in a massive mixture of lay led religious piety and civic pride.