A guide to Semana Santa... Nazarenos

2 April 2012

When I stopped by work today, some of my coworkers asked me if I had a chance to see any processions yet. I shared that I had managed to see the end of the procession for Palm Sunday. Everyone was curious about my reaction--since I've told them that we don't typically have religious processions in the United States and certainly not on the same scale.

I explained that I thought that it was pretty awe inspiring. I can imagine that hundreds of years ago (before the advent of technology) it was even more impressive, and I can see why a procession could inspire such belief in the people. However, the costumes/uniform that the different fraternities wear are a little chocante (problematic/uncomfortable) for me. Even though I know that the Semana Santa uniforms are not related, they are reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan costumes, and it can be hard to separate the two--especially given the violent history of the KKK in the United States.

However, I'm hoping that sharing a little bit of the history of these uniforms and their significance in Semana Santa can allow me to disassociate the two.

As I explained in my blog post yesterday, during Semana Santa, different fraternities are responsible for different processions throughout the week. One component of each procession is the fraternity's nazarenos--penitents. Each fraternity's nazarenos has their own uniform to distinguish them from other fraternities. They are differentiated by the color and style of their uniform.

However, most uniforms have a few basic elements--the capirote, the robe, the cape, and the footwear. The capirotes are the conical hoods that the nazarenos wear. The capirotes only have small eye holes in order to hide the identity of the nazareno. This is not because they do bad things but because they are supposed to humble in their repentance for their sins.

The colors of the capirotes and the robes varies from fraternity to fraternity. In this case, the capirote and robes are red for the Cofradía de la Sentencia de Jesús (Brotherhood of the Judgement of Jesus). The uniforms that have capes typically have the shield/emblem of the fraternity embroidered on it.










The footwear of each nazareno is different as well. Some go barefoot as a symbol of their repentance. Others wear sandals which are worn with socks. Lastly, some nazarenos wear regular shoes.

The nazareno below is from the Hermandad Sacramental del Santísimo Cristo de las Penas y Santa Mujer Verónica. They wear white capirotes and robes and blue capes. This fraternity was created in 1946.